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Pseudo Philo Biblical Antiquities

Classical · 50-120 C.E.

Pseudo-Philo is the name commonly used for the unknown, anonymous author of Biblical Antiquities. Some scholars propose that the Biblical Antiquities was written shortly preceding the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in 70 C.E. while others suggest that it was written post-70 CE, possibly as late as near the Bar Kokhba revolt. The work itself is a selective rewriting of Jewish scriptural texts and traditions which opens with the creation of the world and ends with the death of King Saul. Many of its additions have parallels in other Jewish traditions.

1The beginning of the world. Adam fathered three sons and one daughter: Cain, Noaba, Abel, and Seth. 2 After he fathered Seth, Adam lived 700 years and fathered 12 sons and 8 daughters.[1] 3 These are the names of the sons: Eliseel, Suris, Elamiel, Brabal, Naat, Zarama, Zasam, Maathal, and Anath. 4 These are his daughters: Phua, Iectas, Arebica, Sifa, Tecia, Saba, Asin. 5 Seth lived 105 years and fathered Enos. After he fathered Enos, Seth lived 707 years and fathered 3 sons and 2 daughters. 6 The names of his sons were Elidia, Phonna, and Matha; and of his daughters, Malida and Thila. 7 Enos lived 180 years and fathered Cainan. After he fathered Cainan, Enos lived 715 years and fathered 2 sons and a daughter. 8 The names of his sons were Phoë and Thaal; and of his daughter, Catennath. 9 Cainan lived 520 years and fathered Malalech. After he fathered Malalech, Cainan lived 730 years and fathered 3 sons and 2 daughters. 10 The names of the sons were Athach, Socer, and Lopha; and the names of the daughters, Ana and Leua. 11 Malalech lived 165 years and fathered Jareth. After he fathered Jareth, Malalech lived 730 years and fathered 7 sons and 5 daughters. 12 The names of the sons were Leta, Matha, Cethar, Melie, Suriel, Lodo, and Othim. The names of the daughters were Ada, Noa, Iebal, Mada, and Sella. 13 Jareth lived 172 years and fathered Enoch. After he fathered Enoch, Jareth lived 800 years and fathered 4 sons and 2 daughters. 14 The names of the sons were Lead, Anac, Soboac, and Iectar; and of the daughters, Tetzeco and Lesse. 15 Enoch lived 165 years and fathered Matusalam. After he fathered Matusalam, Enoch lived 200 years and fathered 5 sons and 3 daughters. 16 But Enoch pleased God at that time and was not found, for God took him up. 17 The names of his sons are Anaz, Zeum, Achaun, Pheledi, and Elith; and of the daughters, Theiz, Lefith, and Leath. 18 Matusalam lived 187 years and fathered Lamech. After he fathered Lamech, Matusalam lived 782 years and fathered 2 sons and 2 daughters. 19 The names of the sons were Inab and Rapho; and of the daughters, Aluma and Amuga. 20 Lamech lived 182 years and fathered a son, and named him Noah according to his birth, saying, “This child will give rest to us and to the earth from those who are in it, on whom a reckoning will come because of the wickedness of their evil deeds.” 21 After he fathered Noah, Lamech lived 585 years. 22 Noah lived 300 years and fathered three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

2But Cain lived on the earth trembling, as God had appointed for him after he killed his brother Abel; and the name of his wife was Themech. 2 Cain knew his wife Themech, and she conceived and bore Enoch. 3 Cain was 15 years old when he did these things, and from that time he began to build cities, until he had founded seven. These are the names of the cities: the first he named after his son Enoch; the second Mauli; the third Leeth; the fourth Teze; the fifth Iesca; the sixth Celeth; and the seventh Iebbath. 4 After he fathered Enoch, Cain lived 715 years and fathered 3 sons and 2 daughters. The names of his sons were Olad, Lizaph, and Fosal; and of his daughters, Citha and Maac. All the days of Cain were 730 years, and he died. 5 Then Enoch took a wife from the daughters of Seth, who bore him Ciram, Cuuth, and Madab. Ciram fathered Matusael, and Matusael fathered Lamech. 6 Lamech took two wives for himself: the name of the one was Ada and the name of the other Sella. 7 Ada bore him Iobab; he was the father of all who live in tents and herd flocks. She also bore him Iobal, who was the first to teach all the playing of instruments. 8 At that time, when those who lived on the earth had begun to do evil, each one defiling his neighbor’s wife, God was angry. And Iobal began to play the lute and the harp and every instrument of sweet music, and so to corrupt the earth. 9 Sella bore Tubal, Misa, and Theffa. This is the Tubal who showed people the working of lead, tin, iron, copper, silver, and gold; and then the inhabitants of the earth began to make carved images and to worship them. 10 Lamech said to his two wives Ada and Sella, “Hear my voice, you wives of Lamech, pay attention to my words. For I have corrupted men for myself, and have taken nursing infants from the breasts, so that I might show my sons and the inhabitants of the earth how to do evil. And now vengeance will be taken seven times for Cain, but for Lamech seventy times seven.”

3When men had begun to multiply on the earth, beautiful daughters were born to them. And the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were exceedingly beautiful, and took as wives any they chose. 2 God said, “My spirit will not judge among these men forever, because they are flesh; so their years will be 120. And he set within those years the ends of the world, yet wickedness was not put out of their hands.” 3 God saw that among all the dwellers on earth deeds of evil were carried out, and since their thoughts were on wickedness all their days, God said, “I will blot out man and everything that has sprouted upon the earth, for I am sorry that I made him.” 4 But Noah found grace and mercy before the Lord, and these are his generations. Noah, who was a righteous man and blameless in his generation, pleased the Lord. God said to him, “The end of all who dwell on the earth has come, for their deeds are very evil. Now make yourself an ark of cedar wood, and make it like this: 300 cubits will be its length, 50 cubits its breadth, and 30 cubits its height. You will enter the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. I will make my covenant with you, to destroy all who dwell on the earth. Of clean animals and of the clean birds of the heavens you will take seven pairs, male and female, so that their offspring may be kept alive on the earth. But of unclean animals and birds you will take two of each, male and female, and you will take provisions for yourself and for them as well.” 5 Noah did what God commanded him and entered the ark, he and all his sons with him. After 7 days the water of the flood began to come upon the earth. On that day all the depths were opened and the great spring of water and the windows of heaven, and there was rain on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. 6 It was then the 1652nd year from the time God had made the heaven and the earth, in the day when the earth was corrupted with its inhabitants because of the wickedness of their deeds. 7 When the flood had continued 140 days on the earth, only Noah and those with him in the ark remained alive; and when God remembered Noah, he made the water subside. 8 On the 90th day God dried the earth and said to Noah, “Go out of the ark, you and all who are with you, and grow and multiply on the earth.” So Noah went out of the ark, he and his sons and his sons’ wives, and he brought out with him all the animals, creeping things, birds, and cattle, as God commanded him. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of all the cattle and of the clean birds and offered burnt offerings on the altar; and it was accepted by the Lord as a pleasing aroma. 9 God said, “I will never again curse the earth for man’s sake, for the inclination of man’s heart is bent on evil from his youth. Therefore I will not again destroy all living things together as I have done. But when those who dwell on the earth have sinned, I will judge them by famine or by the sword or by fire or by plague, and there will be earthquakes, and they will be scattered into uninhabited places. But I will not again ruin the earth with the water of a flood; and all the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and autumn, day and night, will not cease, until I remember those who dwell on the earth, until the times are fulfilled. 10 “But when the years of the world are fulfilled, then the light will cease and the darkness be quenched, and I will bring the dead to life and raise up from the earth those who sleep. Hell will pay its debt and destruction give back what was entrusted to it, so that I may repay each person according to his works and according to the fruit of his thoughts, until I judge between the soul and the flesh. The world will rest, death will be quenched, and Hell will shut its mouth. The earth will not be without offspring nor barren for those who dwell in it; and no one who has been justified in me will be defiled. There will be another earth and another heaven, an everlasting dwelling.”[2] 11 The Lord spoke further to Noah and to his sons, saying, “I will make my covenant with you and with your offspring after you, and I will not again ruin the earth with the water of a flood. Everything that lives and moves in it will be food for you. But you must not eat flesh with the blood of its life. Whoever sheds man’s blood, his blood will be shed, for man was made in the image of God. And you, grow and multiply and fill the earth like the multitude of fish that multiply in the waters.” And God said, “This is the covenant I have made between me and you; and when I cover the heaven with clouds, my bow will appear in the cloud, and it will be a reminder of the covenant between me and you and all who dwell on the earth.”

4The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Nidiazech, Tubal, Mocteras, Kenaz, Riphath, Thogorma, Elisa, Dessin, Cethin, and Tudant. The sons of Gomer: Thelez, Lud, Deberlet. The sons of Magog: Cesse, Thipha, Pharuta, Ammiel, Phimei, Goloza, Samanach. The sons of Duden: Sallus, Phelucta, Phallita. The sons of Tubal: Phanatonova, Eteva. The sons of Tyras: Maac, Tabel, Ballana, Samplameac, Elaz. The sons of Mellech: Amboradat, Urach, Bosara. The sons of Ascenez: Jubal, Zaraddana, Anac. The sons of Heri: Phuddet, Doad, Dephadzeat, Enoc. The sons of Togorma: Abiud, Saphath, Asapli, Zepthir. The sons of Elisa: Etzaac, Zenez, Mastisa, Rira. The sons of Zepti: Macziel, Temna, Aela, Phinon. The sons of Tessis: Meccul, Loon, Zelataban. The sons of Duodennin: Itheb, Beath, Phenech. 3 These are the ones who were scattered abroad and lived in the earth among the Persians and Medes, and on the islands in the sea. And Phenech, the son of Dudeni, went up and ordered that seagoing ships be made; and then a third of the earth was divided. 4 Domereth and his sons took Ladech; Magog and his sons took Degal; Madam and his sons took Besto; Iuban and his sons took Ceel; Tubal and his sons took Pheed; Misech and his sons took Nepthi; Tiras and his sons took Rôô; Duodennut and his sons took Goda; Riphath and his sons took Bosarra; Torgoma and his sons took Fud; Elisa and his sons took Thabola; Thesis and his sons took Marecham; Cethim and his sons took Thaan; Dudennin and his sons took Caruba. 5 Then they began to till the earth and to sow on it; and when the earth was parched, its inhabitants cried out to the Lord, and he heard them and gave rain abundantly. And when the rain came down on the earth, the bow appeared in the cloud, and the inhabitants of the earth saw the reminder of the covenant and fell on their faces and sacrificed, offering burnt offerings to the Lord. 6 The sons of Ham were Chus, Mestra, Phuni, and Canaan. The sons of Chus: Saba and Tudan. The sons of Phuni: Effuntenus, Zeleutelup, Geluc, Lephuc. The sons of Canaan were Sydona, Endain, Racin, Simmin, Uruin, Nenugin, Amathin, Nephiti, Telaz, Elat, Cusin. 7 Chus fathered Nembroth, who began to be proud before the Lord. But Mestram fathered Ludin, Megimin, Labin, Latuin, Petrosonoin, and Ceslun; from these came the Philistines and the Cappadocians. 8 Then they too began to build cities, and these are the cities they built: Sydon and the surrounding parts, that is, Resun, Beosa, Maza, Gerara, Ascalon, Dabir, Camo, Tellun, Lacis, Sodom and Gomorra, Adama and Seboim. 9 The sons of Shem: Elam, Assur, Arphaxa, Luzi, Aram. The sons of Aram: Gedrum, Ese. Arphaxa fathered Sale, Sale fathered Heber, and to Heber two sons were born: the name of the one was Phalech, for in his days the earth was divided, and the name of his brother was Jectan. 10 Jectan fathered Helmadam, Salastra, Mazaam, Rea, Dura, Uzia, Deglabal, Mimoel, Sabthphin, Evilac, and Iubab. The sons of Phalech: Ragau, Rephuth, Zepheram, Aculon, Sachar, Siphaz, Nabi, Suri, Seciur, Phalacus, Rapho, Phalthia, Zaldephal, Zaphis, Arteman, and Heliphas. These are the sons of Phalech and their names, and they took wives from the daughters of Jectan and fathered sons and daughters and filled the earth. 11 But Ragau took as his wife Melcha the daughter of Ruth, and she bore him Seruch. When the day of her delivery came, she said, “From this child, in the fourth generation, will be born one who will set his dwelling on high and will be called perfect and undefiled; he will be the father of nations, his covenant will not be broken, and his offspring will be multiplied forever.” 12 After he fathered Seruch, Ragau lived 119 years and fathered 7 sons and 5 daughters. The names of his sons were Abiel, Obed, Salma, Dedasal, Zeneza, Accur, Nephes; and the names of his daughters, Cedema, Derisa, Seipha, Pherita, Theila. 13 Seruch lived 29 years and fathered Nachor. After he fathered Nachor, Seruch lived 67 years and fathered 4 sons and 3 daughters. The names of the sons were Zela, Zoba, Dica, and Phodde; and his daughters, Tephila, Oda, Selipha. 14 Nachor lived 34 years and fathered Thara. After he fathered Thara, Nachor lived 200 years and fathered 8 sons and 5 daughters. The names of the sons were Recap, Dediap, Berechap, Iosac, Sithal, Nisab, Nadab, Camoel; and his daughters, Esca, Thipha, Bruna, Ceneta. 15 Thara lived 70 years and fathered Abram, Nachor, and Aram. And Aram fathered Lot. 16 Then the inhabitants of the earth began to look at the stars, and began to make predictions by them and to practice divination, and to make their sons and daughters pass through the fire. But Seruch and his sons did not follow these ways. 17 These are the generations of Noah upon the earth according to their languages and their tribes, from whom the nations were divided over the earth after the flood.

5Then the sons of Ham came and made Nembroth a prince over themselves; the sons of Japheth made Phenech their chief; and the sons of Shem gathered together and set Jectan over them as their prince. 2 When these three had met together, they agreed to review and take a census of the people who followed them. This was done while Noah was still alive, so that all the men were gathered together; and they lived at peace with one another, and the earth was at peace. 3 In the 340th year after Noah went out of the ark, after God had dried up the flood, the princes took a census of their people. 4 First Phenech the son of Japheth reviewed them. The sons of Gomer, all passing by according to the scepters of their commanders, were 5,800 in number. The sons of Magog were 6,200. The sons of Madai were 5,700. The sons of Tubal were 9,400. The sons of Mesca were 5,600. The sons of Thiras were 12,300. The sons of Riphath were 14,500. The sons of Thogorma were 14,400. The sons of Elisa were 14,900. The sons of Thersis were 12,100. The sons of Cethin were 17,300. The sons of Doin were 17,700. The total of the camp of the sons of Japheth, all men of might equipped with their armor, set in the sight of their captains, was 140,202, besides women and children. The full count of Japheth was 142,000. 5 Then Nembroth passed by, he and the sons of Ham, all according to the scepters of their commanders, found to be 24,800 in number. The sons of Phua were 27,700. The sons of Canaan were 32,800. The sons of Soba were 4,300. The sons of Lebilla were 22,300. The sons of Sata were 25,300. The sons of Remma were 30,600. The sons of Sabaca were 46,400. The total of the camp of the sons of Ham, all mighty men furnished with armor, set in the sight of their commanders, was 244,900, besides women and children. 6 Then Jectan the son of Shem reviewed the sons of Elam, and they were 47,000 in number, all passing by according to the scepters of their commanders. The sons of Assur were 73,000. The sons of Aram were 87,300. The sons of Lud were 30,600. The sons of Arfaxat were 114,600. And the whole number of them was 347,600. 7 The total of the camp of the sons of Shem, all setting out in valor at the command of war in the sight of their commanders, was an uncertain number, besides women and children. 8 These are the generations of Noah listed separately, whose whole number together was 914,000. All these were counted while Noah was still alive, in the presence of Noah, 350 years after the flood. And all the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.

6Then all those who had been divided and were living over the earth gathered together afterward and lived together; and they set out from the East and found a plain in the land of Babylon, and there they lived. And they said to one another, “One day we will be scattered, each man from his brother, and in the latter days we will be fighting one against another. Now therefore come, let us build a tower for ourselves, the top of which will reach to heaven, and we will make ourselves a name and a reputation on the earth.” 2 They said to one another, “Let us make bricks, and let each of us write our names on the bricks and burn them with fire; and that which is thoroughly burned will be for mortar and brick.” 3 So each man took his bricks, except for 12 men who would not take them. These are their names: Abraham, Nachor, Lot, Ruge, Tenute, Zaba, Armodath, Iobab, Esar, Abimahel, Saba, Auphin. 4 The people of the land seized them and brought them before their princes and said, “These are the men who have defied our plans and will not walk in our ways.” The princes said to them, “Why will you not lay your bricks with the people of the land?” They answered, “We will not lay bricks with you, nor will we join in your purpose. We know one Lord, and him alone we worship. And even if you throw us into the fire with your bricks, we will not consent to you.” 5 The princes were angry and said, “As they have said, so do to them; and if they will not lay bricks with you, burn them with fire along with your bricks.” 6 Then Jectan, who was the foremost prince of the captains, answered, “Not so; rather, let them be given a space of 7 days. And if they repent of their evil plans and lay bricks with us, they will live; but if not, let them be burned according to your word.” But he was looking for a way to save them from the hands of the people, for he was of their tribe and he served God. 7 When he had said this, he took them and shut them up in the king’s house; and when evening came, the prince ordered 50 mighty men of valor to be called to him, and said to them, “Go out and take these men who are shut up in my house tonight, and put provisions for them from my house on 10 animals, and bring the men to me; and take their provisions along with the animals to the mountains and wait for them there. And know this: if anyone learns what I have told you, I will burn you with fire.” 8 The men set out and did all that their prince commanded; they took the men from his house by night, took provisions and put them on the animals, and led them to the hill country as he had commanded. 9 Then the prince called the 12 men to him and said, “Take courage and do not be afraid, for you will not die. For God, in whom you trust, is mighty, so be steadfast in him, for he will deliver and save you. Now I have ordered 50 men to take provisions from my house and go ahead of you into the hill country and wait for you in the valley; and I will give you another 50 men to guide you there. Go and hide yourselves there in the valley, where you have water to drink that flows down from the rocks. Stay there for 30 days, until the anger of the people of the land has died down and until God sends his wrath upon them and breaks them. For I know that the wicked plan they have agreed to carry out will not stand, for their scheme is empty. And when 7 days have passed and they look for you, I will tell them, ‘They broke down the door of the prison where they were shut up and fled by night, and I have sent 100 men to look for them.’ So I will turn them from this madness that is upon them.” 10 Eleven of the men answered him, “Your servants have found favor in your sight, in that we are set free from the hands of these proud men.” 11 But Abram alone kept silent, and the prince said to him, “Why do you not answer me, Abram, servant of God?” Abram answered, “Today I am to flee into the hill country, but if I escape the fire, wild beasts will come out of the mountains and devour us; or our food will run out and we will die of hunger; and we will be found fleeing from the people of the land and will fall in our sins. Now, as he lives in whom I trust, I will not leave the place where they have put me; and if there is any sin of mine for which I must be burned, the will of God be done.” The prince said to him, “Your blood be on your own head if you refuse to go out with these. But if you consent, you will be delivered; and if you choose to stay, stay as you are.” Abram said, “I will not go out, but I will stay here.” 12 The prince took the 11 men and sent another 50 with them, and ordered them, “Wait in the hill country for 15 days with the 50 who were sent ahead of you; and afterward return and say, ‘We did not find them,’ as I told the first group. And know that if anyone disobeys one of all these words I have spoken to you, he will be burned with fire.” So the men went out, and the prince took Abram by himself and shut him up where he had been shut up before. 13 After 7 days had passed, the people gathered together and said to their prince, “Hand over to us the men who would not consent to us, so that we may burn them with fire.” They sent captains to bring them, but they did not find them, except Abram alone. They all gathered before their prince and said, “The men you shut up have fled and have escaped what we had planned.” 14 Phenech and Nemroth said to Jectan, “Where are the men you shut up?” He said, “They broke out of prison and fled by night, but I have sent 100 men to look for them, and I commanded them that if they find them, they should not only burn them with fire but give their bodies to the birds of the heavens and so destroy them.” 15 Then they said, “This one who is found alone, let us burn him.” So they took Abram and brought him before their princes and said to him, “Where are the ones who were with you?” He said, “I was asleep at night, and when I awoke I did not find them.” 16 They took him and built a furnace and kindled it with fire, and put bricks burned with fire into the furnace. Then Jectan the prince, troubled in his mind, took Abram and put him with the bricks into the furnace of fire. 17 But God stirred up a great earthquake, and the fire gushed out of the furnace and broke out into flames and sparks of fire, and consumed all who stood around watching the furnace; all who were burned that day were 83,500. But Abram suffered no harm at all from the burning of the fire.[3] 18 Abram rose up out of the furnace, and the fiery furnace collapsed, and Abram was saved. He went to the 11 men who were hidden in the hill country and told them all that had happened to him, and they came down with him out of the hill country rejoicing in the name of the Lord, and no one met them to frighten them that day. And they called that place by the name of Abram, and in the language of the Chaldeans Deli, which means God.

7After these things, the people of the land did not turn from their evil thoughts; they came together again to their princes and said, “The people will never be overcome. Now let us come together and build a city and a tower that will never be torn down.” 2 When they had begun to build, God saw the city and the tower that the children of men were building, and he said, “Look, they are one people and their speech is one, and the earth will not bear what they have begun to build, nor will the heaven endure to look on it. And if they are not stopped now, they will dare to do everything they take it into their minds to do. 3 “Therefore I will divide their speech and scatter them over all countries, so that no one will know his brother and no one will understand his neighbor’s speech. I will hand them over to the rocks, and they will build themselves shelters of stubble and straw and dig themselves caves and live in them like beasts of the field; and so they will remain before my face forever, so that they may never devise such things. I will regard them as a drop of water and liken them to spittle; and for some of them the end will come by water, and others will be dried up with thirst. 4 “But before all of them I will choose my servant Abram, and I will bring him out from their land and lead him into the land that my eye has looked upon from the beginning, when all the dwellers on earth sinned before my face and I brought on them the water of the flood. For I did not destroy that land then but preserved it. The fountains of my wrath did not break out there, nor did the water of my destruction come down on it. There I will make my servant Abram dwell, and I will make my covenant with him and bless his offspring, and I will be called his God forever.” 5 So when the people who lived in the land had begun to build the tower, God divided their speech and changed their appearance. And no one knew his brother, nor did anyone understand his neighbor’s speech. So when the builders ordered their helpers to bring bricks, they brought water, and if they asked for water, the others brought straw. Their plan was broken, and they stopped building the city; and God scattered them from there over the face of all the earth. So that place was called Confusion, because there God confused their speech and scattered them from there over the face of all the earth.

8But Abram went out from there and lived in the land of Canaan, taking with him Lot his brother’s son and Sarai his wife. Because Sarai was barren and had no children, Abram took Hagar her maid, and she bore him Ishmael. And Ishmael fathered 12 sons. 2 Then Lot left Abram and lived in Sodom, but Abram lived in the land of Ham. The men of Sodom were very evil and exceedingly sinful. 3 God appeared to Abraham, saying, “To your offspring I will give this land; and your name will be called Abraham, and Sarai your wife will be called Sara. I will give you from her offspring that will endure forever, and I will make my covenant with you.” Abraham knew his wife Sara, and she conceived and bore Isaac. 4 Isaac took a wife from Mesopotamia, the daughter of Bathuel, who conceived and bore him Esau and Jacob. 5 Esau took as wives Judin the daughter of Bereu, Basemath the daughter of Elon, Elibema the daughter of Anan, and Manem the daughter of Samahel. Basemath bore him Adelifan, and the sons of Adelifan were Temar, Omar, Seffor, Getan, Tenaz, and Amalec. Judin bore Tenacis, Ieruebemas, Bassemen, and Rugil; and the sons of Rugil were Naizar and Samaza. Elibema bore Auz, Iollam, and Coro. Manem bore Tenetde and Thenatela. 6 Jacob took as wives the daughters of Laban the Syrian, Lia and Rachel, and two concubines, Bala and Zelpha. Lia bore him Ruben, Simeon, Levi, Juda, Isachar, Zabulon, and Dina their sister. Rachel bore Joseph and Benjamin. Bala bore Dan and Neptalim, and Zelpha bore Gad and Aser. These are the 12 sons of Jacob and one daughter. 7 Jacob lived in the land of Canaan, and Sichem the son of Emor the Correan forced his daughter Dina and violated her. Simeon and Levi the sons of Jacob went in and killed all their city with the edge of the sword, and took Dina their sister, and went out from there. 8 Afterward Job took her as his wife and fathered by her 14 sons and 6 daughters, that is, 7 sons and 3 daughters before he was struck with affliction, and afterward, when he was made whole, 7 sons and 3 daughters. These are their names: Eliphac, Erinoe, Diasat, Philias, Diffar, Zellud, Thelon; and his daughters Meru, Litaz, Zeli. And the names of the later children were the same as those of the former.[4] 9 Now Jacob and his 12 sons lived in the land of Canaan, and his sons hated their brother Joseph, whom they handed over into Egypt, to Petephres the chief of Pharaoh’s cooks, and he stayed with him 14 years. 10 After the king of Egypt had seen a dream, they told him about Joseph, and Joseph explained the dreams to him. And after he explained his dreams, Pharaoh made him prince over all the land of Egypt. At that time there was a famine in all the land, as Joseph had foreseen. His brothers came down into Egypt to buy food, because there was food only in Egypt. Joseph recognized his brothers and made himself known to them, and he did not deal harshly with them. He sent and called his father out of the land of Canaan, and he came down to him. 11 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came down into Egypt with Jacob, each with his household. The sons of Reuben: Enoch, Phallud, Esrom, and Carmin. The sons of Simeon: Namuhel, Iamin, Dot, Iachin, and Saul the son of a Canaanite woman. The sons of Levi: Gerson, Caat, and Merari. The sons of Juda: Auna, Selon, Phares, and Zerami. The sons of Isachar: Tola, Phua, Job, and Sombram. The sons of Zabulon: Sarelon and Iaillil. And Dina their sister bore 14 sons and 6 daughters. These are the generations of Lia, whom she bore to Jacob. All the souls of sons and daughters were 72. 12 The sons of Dan: Usinam. The sons of Neptalim: Betaal, Neemmu, Surem, Optisariel. These are the generations of Balla, which she bore to Jacob. All the souls were 8. 13 The sons of Gad: Sariel, Sua, Visui, Mophat, and Sar; their sister, the daughter of Seriebel, Melchiel. These are the generations of Zelpha the wife of Jacob, which she bore to him. All the souls of sons and daughters were 10 in number. 14 The sons of Joseph: Ephraim and Manassen. And Benjamin fathered Gela, Esbel, Abocmephec, and Utundeus. These were the souls that Rachel bore to Jacob, 14. And they went down into Egypt and stayed there 210 years.

9After the death of Joseph, the children of Israel multiplied and increased greatly. Another king arose in Egypt who did not know Joseph, and he said to his people, “This people is more numerous than we are. Come, let us take counsel against them so that they do not multiply.” And the king of Egypt commanded all his people, “Every son born to the Hebrews, throw into the river, but keep the females alive.” The Egyptians answered their king, “Let us kill their males and keep their females, to give to our servants as wives; and whoever is born of them will be a servant and serve us.” This appeared most evil before the Lord. 2 Then the elders of the people gathered the people with mourning and lamented, saying, “The wombs of our wives have suffered a miscarriage. Our fruit is handed over to our enemies, and now we are cut off. Let us make a rule that no man go near his wife, so that the fruit of their womb is not defiled and our own children do not serve idols; for it is better to die childless until we know what God will do.” 3 But Amram answered, “It will sooner happen that the age is utterly abolished and the immeasurable world falls, or that the heart of the depths touches the stars, than that the race of the children of Israel be diminished. And it will be, when the covenant is fulfilled that God spoke to Abraham, saying, ‘Surely your sons will dwell in a land that is not theirs and will be brought into bondage and afflicted 400 years.’ Now, since the word was spoken that God spoke to Abraham, there are 350 years; and since we have been in bondage in Egypt it is 130 years. 4 “Now therefore I will not abide by what you decree, but will go in and take my wife and father sons, so that we may become many on the earth. For God will not stay angry forever, nor will he forget his people forever, nor cast the race of Israel away to nothing on the earth, nor did he make his covenant with our fathers in vain; for when we did not yet exist, God spoke of these things. 5 “Now therefore I will go and take my wife, and I will not consent to the command of this king. And if it seems right in your eyes, let us all do so; for when our wives conceive, they will not be known to be pregnant until 3 months are fulfilled, just as our mother Thamar did. Her purpose was not for immorality; rather, because she would not separate herself from the sons of Israel, she resolved and said, ‘It is better for me to die for sinning with my father-in-law than to be joined to Gentiles.’ And she hid the fruit of her womb until the 3rd month, for then it was noticed. As she was going to be put to death, she declared, ‘The man whose staff and ring and goatskin these are, by him I have conceived.’ And her plan delivered her out of all danger. 6 “Now let us also do this. And when the time of giving birth comes, if it is possible, we will not throw away the fruit of our womb. Who knows whether God will be moved by this to deliver us from our humiliation?” 7 The thought that Amram had in his heart was pleasing before God, and God said, “Because the thought of Amram is pleasing before me, and he has not set aside the covenant made between me and his fathers, the one born of him will serve me forever, and through him I will do wonders in the house of Jacob, and will do signs and wonders by him for my people such as I have done for no one else, and I will work my glory in them and declare to them my ways. 8 “I the Lord will kindle my lamp for him to dwell in him, and will show him my covenant that no one has seen, and reveal to him my great excellence, my justice, and my judgments, and I will shine a perpetual light for him. For in ancient days I thought of him, saying, ‘My spirit will not be a mediator among these men forever, for they are flesh, and their days will be 120 years.’” 9 So Amram of the tribe of Levi went out and took a wife of his own tribe; and when he took her, the rest did the same after him and took their wives. He had one son and one daughter, and their names were Aaron and Miriam. 10 The spirit of God came upon Miriam by night, and she saw a dream and told her parents in the morning, saying, “I saw this night, and a man in a linen garment stood and said to me, ‘Go and tell your parents, the one who will be born of you will be thrown into the water, for through him the water will be dried up, and through him I will do signs, and I will save my people, and he will be its leader forever.’” When Miriam told her dream, her parents did not believe her. 11 But the word of the king of Egypt prevailed against the children of Israel, and they were humiliated and oppressed in the work of bricks. 12 Jochabeth conceived by Amram and hid the child in her womb 3 months, for she could not hide him any longer, because the king of Egypt had appointed overseers of the region so that when the Hebrew women gave birth, they would throw the males into the river at once. She took her child and made him an ark from the bark of a pine tree and set the ark at the edge of the river. 13 Now the boy was born in the covenant of God, already circumcised.[5] 14 When they cast him out, all the elders gathered together and complained against Amram, saying, “Are these not the words we spoke, saying, ‘It is better for us to die childless than that our fruit should be thrown into the water’?” But when they said this, Amram did not listen to them. 15 But the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash in the river, as she had seen in a dream, and her maids saw the ark, and she sent one of them and took it and opened it. When she saw the child and saw that he was already circumcised, she said, “He is one of the children of the Hebrews.” She took him and raised him, and he became her son, and she named him Moses. But his mother called him Melchiel. And the child was raised and became glorious above all men, and through him God delivered the children of Israel, as he had said.

10When the king of Egypt was dead, another king arose and afflicted all the people of Israel. But they cried out to the Lord, and he heard them and sent Moses and delivered them out of the land of Egypt. God also sent upon the Egyptians 10 plagues and struck them. These were the plagues: blood, frogs, all kinds of flies, hail, the death of cattle, locusts, gnats, darkness that could be felt, and the death of the firstborn. 2 When they had gone out from there and were on their way, the heart of the Egyptians was hardened yet again, and they continued to pursue them and found them by the Red Sea. The children of Israel cried out to their God and said to Moses, “The time of our destruction has come, for the sea is in front of us and the multitude of enemies behind us, and we are in the middle. Was it for this that God brought us out? Are these the covenants he made with our fathers, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give the land where you dwell’? Now let him do with us what seems good in his sight.” 3 Then the children of Israel split their counsels into three, because of the fear of that moment. The tribes of Ruben, Isachar, Zabulon, and Symeon said, “Come, let us throw ourselves into the sea, for it is better for us to die in the water than to be killed by our enemies.” The tribes of Gad, Aser, Dan, and Neptalim said, “No, let us go back with them, and if they will spare our lives, we will serve them.” But the tribes of Levi, Juda, Joseph, and Benjamin said, “Not so; let us take up our weapons and fight them, and God will be with us.” 4 Moses also cried out to the Lord and said, “O Lord God of our fathers, did you not say to me, ‘Go and tell the sons of Lia, God has sent me to you’? And now you have brought your people to the edge of the sea, and the enemy is following after them; but you, Lord, remember your name.” 5 God said, “Because you have cried out to me, take your rod and strike the sea, and it will be dried up.” When Moses did all this, God rebuked the sea, and the sea was dried up; the waters stood still and the depths of the earth appeared, and the foundations of the world were laid bare at the sound of the fear of God and at the breath of the anger of the Lord. 6 Israel crossed over on dry land in the middle of the sea. The Egyptians saw and went on pursuing them, and God hardened their minds, and they did not realize that they were entering the sea. So while the Egyptians were in the sea, God commanded the sea once again and said to Moses, “Strike the sea once more.” And he did so. The Lord commanded the sea, and it returned to its waves and covered the Egyptians and their chariots and their horsemen, to this day. 7 But as for his own people, he led them out into the wilderness. For forty years he rained bread from heaven for them, and he brought them quail from the sea, and he brought out for them a well of water that followed them. In a pillar of cloud he led them by day, and in a pillar of fire by night he gave them light.[6]

11In the 3rd month of the journey of the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, they came into the wilderness of Sinai. And God remembered his word and said, “I will give light to the world and illuminate its inhabited places, and make my covenant with the children of men, and glorify my people above all nations; for to them I will grant an eternal honor that will be a light to them, but to the ungodly a punishment.” 2 He said to Moses, “I will call you tomorrow. Be ready and tell my people, ‘For three days let no man go near his wife.’ On the 3rd day I will speak to you and to them, and after that you will come up to me. I will put my words in your mouth, and you will enlighten my people. For I have given into your hands an everlasting law by which I will judge all the world. This will be a testimony. For if men say, ‘We did not know you, and so we did not serve you,’ then I will take vengeance on them, because they did not know my law.” 3 Moses did as God commanded him, and he consecrated the people and said to them, “Be ready on the 3rd day, for after 3 days God will make his covenant with you.” And the people were consecrated. 4 On the 3rd day there were sounds of thunder and the brightness of lightning and the sound of instruments sounding aloud. And there was fear on all the people who were in the camp. And Moses brought the people out to meet God. 5 The mountains burned with fire, the earth shook, the hills were moved and the mountains overthrown; the depths boiled, and all the inhabited places were shaken; the heavens were folded up and the clouds drew up water. Flames of fire shone out, thunder and lightning multiplied, and winds and storms made a roaring; the stars gathered together, and the angels ran ahead, until God established the law of an everlasting covenant with the children of Israel and gave them an eternal commandment that would not pass away.[7] 6 At that time the Lord spoke to his people all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall not make for yourself carved gods, nor make any detestable image of the sun or the moon or any of the ornaments of heaven, nor the likeness of anything on the earth or of things that creep in the waters or on the earth. I am the Lord your God, a jealous God, repaying the sins of those who sleep upon the living children of the ungodly, if they walk in the ways of their fathers, to the third and fourth generation, but showing mercy to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, so that my ways are not made vain; for God detests anyone who takes his name in vain. 8 “Keep the sabbath day to make it holy. Six days you shall do your work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord. On it you shall do no work, you and all your laborers, except that on it you praise the Lord in the assembly of the elders and glorify the Mighty One in the council of the aged. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and all the world, the uninhabited wilderness, and all things that labor, and all the order of heaven; and God rested the seventh day. Therefore God made the seventh day holy, because he rested on it. 9 “You shall love your father and your mother and fear them; and then your light will rise, and I will command the heaven and it will give you its rain, and the earth will hurry to yield its fruit, and your days will be many, and you will dwell in your land and will not be childless, for your offspring will not fail, even of those who dwell in it. 10 “You shall not commit adultery, for your enemies did not commit adultery with you, but you came out with a high hand. 11 “You shall not kill, because your enemies did not gain the mastery to kill you, but you saw their death. 12 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, speaking falsely, or your watchmen will speak falsely against you. 13 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, nor anything he has, or others will also covet your land.” 14 When the Lord stopped speaking, the people were filled with great fear, and they saw the mountain burning with torches of fire, and they said to Moses, “You speak to us, and do not let God speak to us, or we will die. For today we know that God speaks with man face to face, and man lives. Now we have truly perceived how the earth bore the voice of God with trembling.” And Moses said to them, “Do not be afraid; this voice came to you so that you would not sin.” 15 And all the people stood far off, but Moses drew near to the cloud, knowing that God was there. Then God spoke to him his justice and judgments, and kept him with him 40 days and 40 nights. There he commanded him many things and showed him the tree of life, from which he cut and took and put into Mara, and the water of Mara was made sweet and followed them in the desert 40 years, and went up into the hills with them and came down into the plain. He also commanded him concerning the tabernacle and the ark of the Lord, the sacrifice of burnt offerings and of incense, the ordinance of the table and of the lampstand, and concerning the basin and its base, the shoulder-piece and the breastplate, and the very precious stones, that the children of Israel should make them so; and he showed him their likeness, to make them according to the pattern he saw. And he said to him, “Make for me a sanctuary, and the tabernacle of my glory will be among you.”

12Then Moses came down. He was covered with invisible light, for he had gone down into the place where the light of the sun and moon is, and the light of his face outshone the brightness of the sun and moon, and he did not know it. When he came down to the children of Israel, they saw him and did not recognize him; but when he spoke, then they recognized him. This was like what happened in Egypt when Joseph recognized his brothers but they did not recognize him. And afterward, when Moses knew that his face had become glorious, he made a veil to cover his face.[8] 2 But while he was on the mountain, the heart of the people was corrupted, and they came together to Aaron, saying, “Make us gods to serve, as the other nations also have, for this Moses, by whom the wonders were done before us, has been taken from us.” Aaron said to them, “Be patient, for Moses will come and bring judgment near to us, and light up a law for us, and declare from his mouth the great excellence of God, and appoint judgments for our people.”[9] 3 When he said this, they did not listen to him, so that the word might be fulfilled that was spoken in the day when the people sinned in building the tower, when God said, “And now, if I do not stop them, they will dare everything they take it into their minds to do, and worse.” But Aaron was afraid, because the people were greatly emboldened, and he said to them, “Bring me the earrings of your wives.” And the men sought each one his wife, and they gave them at once, and they put them in the fire, and they were made into a figure, and out came a molten calf. 4 The Lord said to Moses, “Hurry down from here, for the people are corrupted and have dealt deceitfully with my ways that I commanded them. What if the promises are at an end that I made to their fathers when I said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land where you dwell’? For the people have not yet entered the land, and even though they carry my judgments, they have already forsaken me. So I know that if they enter the land, they will commit even greater wrongs. Now therefore I also will forsake them; but I will turn again and make peace with them, so that a house may be built for me among them. And that house also will be done away with, because they will sin against me, and the race of men will be to me like a drop from a pitcher and will be counted as spittle.” 5 Moses hurried and came down and saw the calf, and he looked at the tablets and saw that they were no longer written on; and he hurried and broke them. His hands were opened, and he became like a woman in labor with her firstborn, who, when she is seized by her pangs, has her hands on her bosom and has no strength to help herself give birth. 6 After an hour he said to himself, “Bitterness does not prevail forever, nor does evil have dominion always. Now therefore I will arise and strengthen myself; for although they have sinned, the things that were declared to me above will not be in vain.” 7 He arose and broke the calf, cast it into the water, and made the people drink. And it happened that if anyone’s will and mind had been set on the calf being made, his tongue was cut off; but if anyone had been forced to it by fear, his face shone. 8 Then Moses went up the mountain and prayed to the Lord, saying, “Now, you are God who planted this vineyard and set its roots in the deep and stretched out its shoots to your most high seat. Look upon it at this time, for the vineyard has put forth its fruit and has not known the one who tended it. And now, if you are angry with your vineyard and root it up out of the deep and wither up the shoots from your most high eternal seat, the deep will no longer come to nourish it, nor your throne to refresh that vineyard of yours which you have burned. 9 “For you are the one who is all light, and you have adorned your house with precious stones and gold and perfumes and spices, and with balsam wood and cinnamon; with roots of myrrh and costum you have strewn your house, and with various foods and the sweetness of many drinks you have satisfied it. If therefore you do not have pity on your vineyard, all these things are done in vain, Lord, and you will have no one to glorify you. For even if you plant another vineyard, that one will not trust you either, because you destroyed the first. And if you truly forsake the world, who will do for you what you have spoken as God? Now let your wrath be restrained from your vineyard, because of what you have said and what remains to be spoken, and do not let your labor be in vain, nor let your inheritance be torn apart in humiliation.” 10 God said to him, “I have become merciful according to your words. Carve out for yourself two tablets of stone from the place where you carved the first, and write on them again my judgments that were on the first.”

13Moses hurried and did all that God commanded him; he came down and made the tablets and the tabernacle and its vessels, the ark, the lamps, the table, the altar of burnt offerings, the altar of incense, the shoulder-piece, the breastplate, the precious stones, the basin and its bases, and all the things shown to him. He arranged all the vestments of the priests, the sashes and the rest, the turban, the golden plate, and the holy crown; he also made the anointing oil for the priests, and he consecrated the priests themselves. And when everything was finished, the cloud covered all of it. 2 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and God spoke to him from the tabernacle, saying, “This is the law of the altar, by which you shall sacrifice to me and pray for your souls. As for what you shall offer me, offer of the cattle the calf, the sheep, and the female goat; and of birds, the turtledove and the dove. 3 “If there is leprosy in your land and the leper is cleansed, let them take for the Lord two live young birds, and cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet; and he shall come to the priest, who shall kill one and keep the other. And he shall deal with the leper according to all that I have commanded in my law. 4 “When the times come around to you, you shall make me holy with a feast day and rejoice before me at the feast of unleavened bread, and set bread before me, keeping a feast of remembrance, because on that day you came out of the land of Egypt. 5 “At the feast of weeks you shall set bread before me and make me an offering for your fruits. 6 “But the feast of trumpets shall be an offering for your watchers, because on it I watched over my creation, so that you may be mindful of the whole world. At the beginning of the year, when you present them to me, I will take account of the number of the dead and of those who are born, and of the fast of mercy. For you shall fast to me for your souls, so that the promises of your fathers may be fulfilled. 7 “Also bring me the feast of tabernacles. You shall take for me the pleasant fruit of the tree and boughs of palm and willows and cedars and branches of myrrh; and I will remember the whole earth with rain, and the measure of the seasons will be established, and I will set the stars in order and command the clouds, and the winds will sound and the lightnings run abroad, and there will be a storm of thunder, and this will be a perpetual sign. The nights also will yield dew, as I said after the flood of the earth.” 8 When he gave him commandment concerning the year of the life of Noah, he said to him, “These are the years that I ordained after the weeks in which I visited the city of men, when I showed them the place of birth and said, ‘This is the place of which I taught the first man, saying, “If you do not transgress what I commanded you, all things will be subject to you.”’ But he transgressed my ways and was persuaded by his wife, and she was deceived by the serpent. And then death was ordained for the generations of men.”[10] 9 And the Lord showed him the ways of paradise and said to him, “These are the ways that men have lost by not walking in them, because they sinned against me.” 10 The Lord commanded him concerning the salvation of the souls of the people and said, “If they walk in my ways, I will not forsake them, but will always be merciful to them, and will bless their offspring; and the earth will hurry to yield its fruit, and there will be rain for them to increase their harvests, and the earth will not be barren. Yet I know that they will corrupt their ways, and I will forsake them, and they will forget the covenants I made with their fathers. Yet I will not forget them forever; for in the last days they will know that because of their sins their offspring was forsaken, for I am faithful in my ways.”

14At that time God said to him, “Begin to number my people from 20 years old and upward to 40 years old, so that I may show your tribes all that I declared to their fathers in a foreign land. For by a fiftieth part of them I raised them up out of the land of Egypt, but 49 parts of them died in the land of Egypt. 2 “When you have arranged and numbered them, write their total, until I fulfill all that I spoke to their fathers and set them firmly in their own land; for I will not take away any word of those I have spoken to their fathers, even of those I said to them, ‘Your offspring will be as the stars of heaven for multitude.’ By number they will enter the land, and in a short time they will become without number.” 3 Then Moses went down and numbered them, and the number of the people was 604,550. But he did not number the tribe of Levi among them, for so it was commanded him; he only numbered those who were over 50 years old, of whom the number was 47,300. He also numbered those below 20 years old, and the number of them was 850,850. And he looked over the tribe of Levi, and their whole number was very great. 4 Moses declared their number to God, and God said to him, “These are the words I spoke to their fathers in the land of Egypt, when I appointed a number, even 210 years, for all who saw my wonders. Now the whole number of them was very many thousands of men, besides women, and I put to death the whole multitude of them because they did not believe me, and a fiftieth part of them was left, and I made them holy to myself. Therefore I command the generation of my people to give me tithes of their fruits, to be before me as a reminder of how great an oppression I have removed from them.” 5 When Moses came down and declared these things to the people, they mourned and lamented and stayed in the desert two years.

15Moses sent spies to spy out the land, 12 men, for so he was commanded. When they had gone up and seen the land, they returned to him bringing some of the fruits of the land, and they troubled the heart of the people, saying, “You will not be able to inherit the land, for it is shut up with iron bars by its mighty men.” 2 But two of the 12 men did not speak so; they said, “Just as hard iron can overcome the stars, or weapons conquer the lightnings, or the birds of the air put out the thunder, so can these men resist the Lord.” For they had seen that as they went up, the lightnings of the stars shone and the thunders followed, sounding with them. 3 These are the names of the men: Chaleb the son of Jephone, the son of Beri, the son of Batuel, the son of Galipha, the son of Zenen, the son of Selimun, the son of Selon, the son of Juda. The other was Joshua the son of Nun, the son of Eliphat, the son of Gal, the son of Nephelien, the son of Emon, the son of Saul, the son of Dabra, the son of Effrem, the son of Joseph. 4 But the people would not listen to the voice of the two; they were greatly troubled and said, “Are these the words God spoke to us, saying, ‘I will bring you into a land flowing with milk and honey’? And how now does he bring us up so that we may fall by the sword, and our women go into captivity?” 5 When they said this, the glory of God suddenly appeared, and he said to Moses, “Does this people keep on refusing to listen to me at all? Now the counsel that has gone out from me will not be in vain. I will send the angel of my anger upon them to break their bodies with fire in the wilderness. And I will command my angels who watch over them not to pray for them, for I will shut up their souls in the storehouses of darkness; and I will say to my servants their fathers, ‘This is the offspring to whom I spoke, saying, “Your offspring will come into a land that is not theirs, and the nation they serve I will judge.”’ And I fulfilled my words and made their enemies melt away, and subjected angels under their feet, and put a cloud to cover their heads, and commanded the sea, and the depths were broken before them and walls of water stood up. 6 “There has not been the like of this word since the day I said, ‘Let the waters under the heaven be gathered into one place,’ until this day. I brought them out, killed their enemies, and led them before me to Mount Sinai. I bowed the heavens and came down to kindle a lamp for my people and to set bounds for all creatures. I taught them to make me a sanctuary so that I might dwell among them. But they have forsaken me and become faithless to my words, and their mind has fainted; and now the days will come when I will do to them as they have desired, and I will cast forth their bodies in the wilderness.” 7 But Moses said, “Before you took the seed with which to make man upon the earth, did I order his ways? Therefore now let your mercy bear with us to the end, and your pity for the length of our days.”

16At that time he gave him commandment concerning the fringes; and then Korah rebelled, and 200 men with him, and they said, “What if a law we cannot bear has been ordained for us?” 2 God was angry and said, “I commanded the earth, and it gave me man; and to him were born at first two sons. The elder rose up and killed the younger, and the earth hurried and swallowed his blood. But I drove out Cain and cursed the earth and said to Sion, ‘You shall no longer swallow up blood.’ And now the thoughts of men are greatly polluted. 3 “I will command the earth, and it will swallow up body and soul together, and their dwelling will be in darkness and destruction; and they will not die but will waste away until I remember the world and renew the earth. Then they will die and not live, and their life will be taken away from the number of all men; nor will Hell vomit them up again, and destruction will not remember them, and their departure will be like that of the tribes of the nations of whom I said, ‘I will not remember them,’ that is, the camp of the Egyptians and the people I destroyed with the water of the flood. The earth will swallow them, and I will do no more to them.” 4 When Moses spoke all these words to the people, Korah and his men were still unbelieving. And Korah sent to call his seven sons, who were not in counsel with him. 5 But they sent him this answer, “Just as the painter does not produce an image by his art unless he is first instructed, so we also, when we received the law of the Most Mighty that teaches us his ways, did not enter into it except to walk in it. Our father did not father us, but the Most Mighty formed us; and now, if we walk in his ways, we will be his children. But if you do not believe, go your own way.” And they did not come up to him. 6 After this the earth opened before them, and his sons sent to him, saying, “If your madness is still upon you, who will help you in the day of your destruction?” But he did not listen to them. And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their houses; and four times the foundation of the earth was moved to swallow up the men, as it was commanded. Afterward Korah and his company groaned, until the firmament of the earth should be restored. 7 But the assemblies of the people said to Moses, “We cannot stay around this place where Korah and his men have been swallowed up.” And he said to them, “Take up your tents from around them, and do not be joined to their sins.” And they did so.

17Then the lineage of the priests of God was declared by the choosing of a tribe, and it was said to Moses, “Take one rod from each tribe and put them in the tabernacle; and then the rod of the one to whom my glory speaks will blossom, and I will take away the murmuring from my people.” 2 Moses did so and set out 12 rods, and the rod of Aaron came out and put forth blossom and yielded the seed of almonds. 3 This likeness that was produced there was like the work Israel did while he was in Mesopotamia with Laban the Syrian, when he took rods of almond and put them at the gathering of waters, and the cattle came to drink and were marked among the peeled rods, and brought forth young that were white and speckled and parti-colored. 4 Therefore the assembly of the people was made like a flock of sheep; and as the cattle brought forth according to the almond rods, so the priesthood was established by means of the almond rods.

18At that time Moses killed Seon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and divided all their land among his people, and they lived in it. 2 But Balac was the king of Moab, who lived opposite them, and he was greatly afraid, and sent to Balaam the son of Beor, the interpreter of dreams, who lived in Mesopotamia, and charged him, saying, “I know that in the reign of my father Sefor, when the Amorites fought against him, you cursed them and they were handed over before him. Now come and curse this people, for they are more numerous than we are, and I will do you great honor.” 3 Balaam said, “This is good in the sight of Balac, but he does not know that the counsel of God is not like the counsel of man. He does not know that the spirit given to us is given for a time, and our ways are not guided unless God wills. Now stay here, and I will see what the Lord will say to me this night.” 4 In the night God said to him, “Who are the men who have come to you?” Balaam said, “Why, Lord, do you test the race of man? They cannot bear it, for you knew, more than they, all that was in the world before you founded it. Now enlighten your servant whether it is right that I go with them.” 5 God said to him, “Was it not concerning this people that I spoke to Abraham in a vision, saying, ‘Your offspring will be as the stars of heaven, when I raised him up above the firmament and showed him all the orderings of the stars, and required of him his son for a burnt offering’? He brought him to be laid on the altar, but I restored him to his father. And because he did not resist, his offering was acceptable in my sight, and for the blood of him I chose this people. Then I said to the angels who work subtly, ‘Did I not say of him, “To Abraham I will reveal all that I do”?’[11] 6 “Jacob also, when he wrestled in the dust with the angel who was over the praises, did not let him go until he blessed him. And now, you think to go with these men and curse those whom I have chosen. But if you curse them, who is it that will bless you?” 7 Balaam arose in the morning and said, “Go your way, for God will not let me come with you.” They went and told Balac all that Balaam had said. And Balac sent yet more men to Balaam, saying, “I know that when you offer burnt offerings to God, God will be reconciled with man. Now ask your Lord yet again, and entreat him with as many burnt offerings as he wishes. For if perhaps he will be appeased in my need, you will have your reward, if God accepts your offerings.” 8 Balaam said to them, “The son of Sephor is foolish, and does not know that he dwells close beside the dead. Now stay here this night, and I will see what God will say to me.” And God said to him, “Go with them, but your journey will be an offense, and Balac himself will go to destruction.” And he arose and went with them. 9 His she-donkey came by the way of the desert and saw the angel, and God opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel and worshiped him on the ground. And the angel said to him, “Hurry and go on, for what you say will come to pass with him.” 10 He came to the land of Moab and built an altar and offered sacrifices; and when he had seen part of the people, the spirit of God did not stay in him, and he took up his oracle and said, “Balac has brought me here to the mountain, saying, ‘Come, run into the fire of these men.’ But I cannot endure that fire which waters quench; yet that fire which consumes water, who can endure it?” And he said to him, “It is easier to take away the foundations and the topmost part of them, and to quench the light of the sun and darken the shining of the moon, than for one who wills it to root up the planting of the Most Mighty or spoil his vineyard.” And Balac himself has not known this, because his mind is puffed up, so that his destruction may come swiftly. 11 “For I see the inheritance that the Most Mighty showed me in the night, and the days are coming when Moab will be amazed at what happens to her, for Balac desired to persuade the Most Mighty with gifts and to buy a verdict with money. Should you not have asked what he sent upon Pharaoh and upon his land because he wanted to bring them into bondage? Here is a spreading vine, exceedingly desirable, and who will be jealous against it, for it does not wither? But if anyone says in his counsel that the Most Mighty has labored in vain or chosen them for no purpose, now I see the salvation of deliverance that is to come to them. I am restrained in the speech of my voice and cannot express what I see with my eyes, for only a little is left to me of the holy spirit that abides in me, since I know that because I was persuaded by Balac, I have lost the days of my life. 12 “Again I see the inheritance of the dwelling of this people, and its light shines above the brightness of lightning, and its running is swifter than arrows. The time will come when Moab will groan, and those who serve Ham will be weak, even those who took this counsel against them. But I will gnash my teeth, because I was deceived and transgressed what was said to me in the night. Yet my prophecy will remain plain, and my words will live, and the wise and prudent will remember my words; for when I cursed, I perished, and though I blessed, I was not blessed.” And when he had said this, he fell silent. And Balac said, “Your God has cheated you of many gifts from me.” 13 Then Balaam said to him, “Come, let us plan what you should do to them. Choose out the most beautiful women among you and in Midian, and set them before the people, naked and adorned with gold and jewels; and when they see them and lie with them, they will sin against their Lord and fall into your hands, for otherwise you cannot subdue them.” 14 And having said this, Balaam turned away and returned to his place. Afterward the people were led astray after the daughters of Moab, for Balac did all that Balaam had shown him.

19At that time Moses killed the nations and gave half of the spoils to the people, and he began to declare to them the words of the law that God spoke to them at Horeb. 2 He spoke to them, saying, “I am about to sleep with my fathers and will go to my people. But I know that you will arise and forsake the words ordained for you by me, and God will be angry with you and forsake you and depart out of your land, and bring against you those who hate you, and they will have dominion over you, but not to the end, for he will remember the covenant he made with your fathers. 3 “But then you and your sons and all your generations after you will arise and seek the day of my death and will say in your heart, ‘Who will give us a shepherd like Moses, or such a judge for the children of Israel, to pray for our sins at all times and to be heard for our iniquities?’ 4 “Today I call heaven and earth to witness against you, for the heaven will hear this and the earth will take it in with her ears, that God has revealed the end of the world, that he might make a covenant with you on his high places, and has kindled an everlasting lamp among you. Remember, you wicked ones, how when I spoke to you, you answered, saying, ‘All that God has said to us we will hear and do. But if we transgress or corrupt our ways, he will call a witness against us and cut us off.’ 5 “But know that you ate the bread of angels for 40 years. And now I bless your tribes before my end comes. But you, know my labor in which I have labored with you since the day you came up out of the land of Egypt.” 6 When he had said this, God spoke to him a third time, saying, “You are about to sleep with your fathers, and this people will arise and seek me, and will forget my law by which I have enlightened them, and I will forsake their offspring for a season. 7 “But to you I will show the land before you die, though you will not enter it in this age, so that you do not see the carved images by which this people will be deceived and led astray. I will show you the place where they will serve me for 850 years. And afterward it will be handed over into the hand of their enemies, and they will destroy it, and strangers will surround it; and it will be in that day as it was in the day when I broke the tablets of the covenant I made with you at Horeb, when they sinned, and what was written on them vanished away.” Now that day was the 17th day of the 4th month. 8 Moses went up Mount Horeb, as God had bidden him, and prayed, saying, “I have fulfilled the time of my life, even 120 years. Now I pray you, let your mercy be with your people, and let your compassion continue upon your inheritance, Lord, and your patience in your dwelling upon the race of your choosing, for you have loved them more than all. 9 “You know that I was a shepherd of sheep, and when I fed the flock in the desert, I brought them to your Mount Horeb, and there I first saw your angel in fire out of the bush; and you called me out of the bush, and I was afraid and turned away my face, and you sent me to them and delivered them out of Egypt, and you sank their enemies in the water. You gave them a law and judgments by which they should live. For what man is there who has not sinned against you? How will your inheritance be established unless you have mercy on them? Or who will ever be born without sin? Yet you will correct them for a season, but not in anger.” 10 Then the Lord showed him the land and all that is in it and said, “This is the land that I will give to my people.” He showed him the place from which the clouds draw up water to water all the earth, and the place from which the river receives its water, and the land of Egypt, and the place of the firmament from which the holy land alone drinks. He showed him also the place from which it rained manna for the people, and even the paths of paradise. He showed him the measures of the sanctuary and the number of the offerings, and the sign by which men will interpret the heaven, and said, “These are the things that were forbidden to the sons of men because they sinned. 11 “And now, the rod you used to perform signs will serve as a witness between me and my people. When they sin, I will become angry, but I will look upon the rod, remember my mercy, and spare them. The rod will remain before me as a lasting reminder, just like the bow I set in the clouds when I made a covenant with Noah after the flood, saying, ‘I will set my bow in the cloud, and it will be a sign between me and humankind that the waters will never again become a flood to destroy the earth.’ 12 “I will take you from here and lay you down to sleep with your fathers, and I will give you rest in your resting place and bury you in peace. All the angels will mourn over you, and the heavenly hosts will grieve. But no angel or mortal will know the place where you are buried, until I visit the world. I will raise up you and your fathers from the earth in which you sleep, and you will come together and dwell in the immortal dwelling place that is not subject to time. 13 “This heaven will be in my sight like a fleeting cloud, like yesterday when it is past. When I draw near to visit the world, I will command the years and order the times, and they will be shortened. The stars will hasten, the light of the sun will hurry to set, and the light of the moon will not endure, because I will hasten to raise up you who sleep, so that all who are able to live may dwell in the place of holiness that I showed you.”[12] 14 Moses said, “If I may ask one more thing of you, O Lord, according to the greatness of your mercy, do not be angry with me. Show me how much time has passed and how much remains.” 15 The Lord said to him, “An instant, the tip of a hand, the fullness of a moment, and the drop of a cup. And time has fulfilled all. For four and a half have passed by, and two and a half remain.” When Moses heard this, he was filled with understanding, and his appearance was gloriously changed; and he died in glory according to the word of the Lord, and God buried him as he had promised him. The angels mourned at his death, and lightnings and torches and arrows went before him with one accord. On that day the hymn of the hosts was not sung because of the departure of Moses. There was no day like it since the Lord made man upon earth, nor will there be such forever, that he should make the hymn of the angels cease because of a man; for he loved him greatly, and he buried him with his own hands on a high place of the earth, and in the light of the whole world.

20At that time God made his covenant with Joshua the son of Nun, who was one of the men who spied out the land; for the lot had fallen on the others that they should not see the land, because they spoke evil of it, and for this reason that generation died. 2 Then God said to Joshua the son of Nun, “Why do you mourn, and why do you hope in vain, thinking that Moses will still live? Now you wait to no purpose, for Moses is dead. Take the garments of his wisdom and put them on, and put on the belt of his knowledge, and you will be changed and become another man. Did I not speak for you to Moses my servant, saying, ‘He will lead my people after you, and into his hand I will deliver the kings of the Amorites’?” 3 Joshua took the garments of wisdom and put them on, and put on the belt of understanding. And when he put it on, his mind was kindled and his spirit stirred up, and he said to the people, “The former generation died in the wilderness because they spoke against their God. And now know, all you captains, this day, that if you go forward in the ways of your God, your paths will be made straight. 4 “But if you do not obey his voice and are like your fathers, your works will be spoiled, and you yourselves broken, and your name will perish out of the land. Then where will be the words that God spoke to your fathers? For even if the nations say, ‘Perhaps God has failed, because he has not delivered his people,’ yet when they see that he has chosen other peoples for himself, working great wonders for them, they will understand that the Most Mighty does not show partiality. But because you sinned through vanity, he took his power from you and subdued you. Now arise and set your heart to walk in the ways of your Lord, and he will direct you.” 5 The people said to him, “Today we see what Eldad and Modat prophesied in the days of Moses, saying, ‘After Moses rests, the leadership of Moses will be given to Joshua the son of Nun.’ And Moses was not envious, but rejoiced when he heard it; and from then on all the people believed that you would lead them and divide the land among them in peace. And now, if there is conflict, be strong and act with courage, for you alone will be leader in Israel.” 6 When he heard this, Joshua planned to send spies into Jericho. He called Kenaz and Seenamias his brother, the two sons of Caleph, and said to them, “I and your father were sent by Moses in the wilderness and went up with ten other men; and they returned and spoke evil of the lands and melted the heart of the people, and they were scattered, and the heart of the people with them. But I and your father alone fulfilled the word of the Lord, and we are alive this day. Now I will send you to spy out the land of Jericho. Do as your father did, and you also will live.” 7 They went up and spied out the city. And when they brought back word, the people went up and besieged the city and burned it with fire. 8 After Moses was dead, the manna stopped coming down for the children of Israel, and then they began to eat the fruits of the land. These are the three things God gave his people for the sake of three persons: the well of the water of Mara for Miriam’s sake, the pillar of cloud for Aaron’s sake, and the manna for the sake of Moses. And when these three died, those three gifts were taken away from them. 9 Now the people and Joshua fought against the Amorites; and when the battle grew strong against their enemies throughout all the days of Joshua, 39 kings who lived in the land were cut off. And Joshua gave the land by lot to the people, to every tribe according to the lots, as he had been commanded. 10 Then Caleph came to him and said, “You know how the two of us were sent by lot by Moses to go with the spies, and because we fulfilled the word of the Lord, we are alive this day. Now if it is pleasing in your sight, let the territory of the three towers be given as a portion to my son Kenaz.” And Joshua blessed him and did so.

21When Joshua had grown old and advanced in years, God said to him, “You are growing old and advanced in age, and the land has become very great, and there is no one to divide it; and after your departure this people will mingle with the inhabitants of the land and go astray after other gods, and I will forsake them, as I testified in my word to Moses. But you, warn them before you die.” 2 Joshua said, “You know more than anyone, O Lord, what moves the heart of the sea before it rages; you have traced out the constellations and numbered the stars and ordered the rain. You know the mind of all generations before they are born. Now, Lord, give your people a heart of wisdom and a mind of prudence, so that when you give these ordinances to your inheritance, they will not sin before you and you will not be angry with them. 3 “Are these not the words I spoke before you, Lord, when Achar stole from what was devoted to destruction and the people were handed over before you, and I prayed in your sight and said, ‘Would it not have been better for us, O Lord, if we had died in the Red Sea where you drowned our enemies, or if we had died in the wilderness like our fathers, than to be handed over into the hand of the Amorites so that we should be blotted out forever?’ 4 “Yet if your word is upon us, no evil will happen to us; for even though our end is removed to death, you live, you who are before the world and after the world. And though a man cannot devise how to put one generation before another, he says, ‘God has destroyed the people he chose.’ And we will be in Hell; yet you will keep your word alive. Now let the fullness of your mercies be patient with your people, and choose for your inheritance a man to rule over your people, he and his descendants. 5 “Was it not for this that our father Jacob spoke, saying, ‘A prince will not depart from Juda, nor a leader from his loins?’ Now confirm the words spoken before, so that the nations of the earth and the tribes of the world may learn that you are everlasting.” 6 He said further, “O Lord, the days will come when the house of Israel will be like a brooding dove that sets her young in the nest and will not forsake them or forget her place. So these too will turn from their deeds and fight against the salvation that will be born to them.” 7 Joshua went down from Galgala and built an altar of very large stones, and brought no iron upon them, as Moses had commanded; and he set up large stones on Mount Gebal, whitened them, and wrote on them the words of the law very plainly. He gathered all the people together and read all the words of the law in their hearing. 8 He came down with them and offered peace offerings on the altar, and they sang many praises and lifted the ark of the covenant of the Lord up out of the tabernacle with timbrels and dances and lutes and harps and lyres and all instruments of sweet sound. 9 The priests and Levites went up before the ark, rejoicing with psalms, and they set the ark before the altar and offered on it again very many peace offerings, and the whole house of Israel sang together with a loud voice, “Our Lord has fulfilled what he spoke to our fathers, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give a land to dwell in, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ And he has brought us into the land of our enemies and handed them over to us broken in heart, and he is the God who sent word to our fathers in the secret places of their souls. The Lord has done all that he spoke to us. Now we truly know that God has confirmed all the words of the law that he spoke to us at Horeb; and if our heart keeps his ways, it will be well with us, and with our sons after us.” 10 Joshua blessed them and said, “May the Lord grant your heart to continue in him all your days, and if you do not depart from his name, the covenant of the Lord will endure with you. May he grant that it not be corrupted, but that the dwelling place of God be built among you, as he spoke when he sent you into his inheritance with joy and gladness.”

22After these things, when Joshua and all Israel had heard that the children of Ruben, the children of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasse who lived around the Jordan had built themselves an altar and were offering sacrifices on it and had made priests for the sanctuary, all the people were troubled beyond measure and came to them at Silon. 2 Joshua and all the elders said to them, “What are these deeds being done among you, while we are not yet settled in our land? Are these not the words Moses spoke to you in the wilderness, saying, ‘See that when you enter the land you do not spoil your doings and corrupt all the people?’ And now, why is it that our enemies have grown so numerous, except because you corrupt your ways and have made all this trouble? Therefore they will gather against us and overcome us.” 3 The children of Ruben, the children of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasse said to Joshua and all the people of Israel, “God has enlarged the fruit of the womb of men and has set up a light so that what is in darkness may see, for he knows what is in the secret places of the deep, and light abides with him. Now the Lord God of our fathers knows whether any of us, or whether we ourselves, have done this thing in wickedness; but we did it only for the sake of our descendants, so that their heart would not be separated from the Lord our God, so that they would not say to us, ‘Our brothers beyond the Jordan have an altar to make offerings on, but we in this place have no altar; let us depart from the Lord our God, because our God has set us far off from his ways, so that we should not serve him.’ 4 “So we said among ourselves, ‘Let us make an altar, so that they may be zealous to seek the Lord.’ And indeed some of us stand here and know that we are your brothers and stand guiltless before you. So do what is pleasing in the sight of the Lord.” 5 Joshua said, “Is not the Lord our king mightier than a thousand sacrifices? Why did you not teach your sons the words of the Lord that you heard from us? For if your sons had been occupied in meditating on the law of the Lord, their mind would not have been led aside after a sanctuary made with hands. Or do you not know that when the people were left for a moment in the wilderness while Moses went up to receive the tablets, their mind was led astray and they made themselves idols? And if the mercy of the God of your fathers had not kept us, all the assemblies would have become a byword, and all the sins of the people would have been spread abroad because of your foolishness. 6 “Now therefore go and tear down the sanctuaries you have built yourselves, and teach your sons the law, and they will meditate on it day and night, so that the Lord may be with them as a witness and a judge all the days of their life. And God will be witness and judge between me and you, and between my heart and your heart, that if you have done this thing deceitfully, it will be avenged on you, because you would destroy your brothers; but if you have done it in ignorance, as you say, God will be merciful to you for your sons’ sake.” And all the people answered, “Amen, Amen.” 7 Joshua and all the people of Israel offered for them 1,000 rams as a sin offering, and prayed for them and sent them away in peace; and they went and destroyed the sanctuary, and fasted and wept, both they and their sons, and prayed and said, “O God of our fathers, who knows the heart of all men before they speak, you know that our ways were not done in wickedness in your sight, nor have we swerved from your ways, but all of us have served you, for we are the work of your hands. Now therefore remember your covenant with the sons of your servants.” 8 After that Joshua went up to Galgala and set up the tabernacle of the Lord and the ark of the covenant and all its vessels, and set it up in Silo, and put there the Demonstration and the Truth. At that time Eleazar the priest who served the altar taught by the Demonstration all the people who came to inquire of the Lord, for by it things were shown to them; but in the new sanctuary that was in Galgala, Joshua appointed, even to this day, the burnt offerings that were offered by the children of Israel every year. 9 For until the house of the Lord was built in Jerusalem, and as long as the offerings were made in the new sanctuary, the people were not forbidden to offer there, because the Truth and the Demonstration revealed all things in Silo. And until the ark was set by Solomon in the sanctuary of the Lord, they kept on sacrificing there until that day. But Eleazar the son of Aaron, the priest of the Lord, ministered in Silo.

23Joshua the son of Nun ordered the people and divided the land among them, being a mighty man of valor. While the adversaries of Israel were still in the land, the days drew near for Joshua to die, and he sent and called all Israel throughout all their land, with their wives and their children, and said to them, “Gather yourselves before the ark of the covenant of the Lord in Silo, and I will make a covenant with you before I die.” 2 When all the people were gathered together on the 16th day of the 3rd month before the face of the Lord in Silo, with their wives and their children, Joshua said to them, “Hear, O Israel, I make with you the covenant of this law that the Lord ordained with our fathers at Horeb; so stay here this night and see what God will say to me concerning you.” 3 As the people waited there that night, the Lord appeared to Joshua in a vision and said, “I will speak to this people according to all these words.” 4 Joshua came in the morning and assembled all the people and said to them, “This is what the Lord says: There was one rock from which I dug out your father, and the cutting of that rock brought forth two men whose names were Abraham and Nachor, and out of the chiseling of that place were born two women whose names were Sara and Melcha. They lived together beyond the river. Abraham took Sara as his wife, and Nachor took Melcha. 5 “When the people of the land were led astray, each man after his own devices, Abraham believed in me and was not led aside after them. I saved him out of the fire and took him and brought him over into all the land of Canaan. I spoke to him in a vision, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ And he said to me, ‘You have given me a wife, and she is barren. How will I have offspring from a womb that is closed?’[13] 6 “I said to him, ‘Take for me a calf three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a pigeon.’ And he took them as I commanded him. I sent a sleep upon him and surrounded him with fear, and I set before him the place of fire where the deeds of those who commit wickedness against me will be punished, and I showed him the torches of fire by which the righteous who have believed in me will be enlightened. 7 “I said to him, ‘These will be a witness between me and you that I will give you offspring from the womb that is closed. I will liken you to the dove, because you have received for me the city that your sons will begin to build in my sight. The turtledove I will liken to the prophets who will be born of you. The ram I will liken to the wise men who will be born of you and enlighten your sons. The calf I will liken to the multitude of the peoples who will be multiplied through you. And the female goat I will liken to the women whose wombs I will open, and they will bring forth. These things will be a witness between us that I will not break my words.’ 8 “I gave him Isaac and formed him in the womb of her who bore him, and I commanded the womb to restore him quickly and give him to me in the 7th month. For this reason every woman who gives birth in the 7th month, her child will live, because upon him I called my glory and showed forth the new age. 9 “To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau, and to Esau I gave the land of Seir for an inheritance. And Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt. The Egyptians brought your fathers low, as you know, and I remembered your fathers and sent Moses my friend and delivered them from there and struck their enemies. 10 “I brought them out with a high hand and led them through the Red Sea, and laid the cloud under their feet, and brought them out through the deep, and brought them beneath Mount Sinai. I bowed the heavens and came down, and I froze the flame of the fire, stopped up the springs of the deep, halted the course of the stars, tamed the sound of the thunder, quenched the fullness of the wind, rebuked the multitude of the clouds and stayed their motions, and interrupted the storm of the hosts, so that I would not break my covenant; for all things were moved at my coming down, and all things were made alive at my coming. I did not let my people be scattered, but gave them my law and enlightened them, so that if they did these things they might live and have length of days and not die. 11 “I have brought you into this land and given you vineyards. You live in cities you did not build. And I have fulfilled the covenant I spoke to your fathers. 12 “Now if you obey your fathers, I will set my heart upon you forever, and will overshadow you, and your enemies will no longer fight against you, and your land will be renowned throughout all the world, and your offspring will be chosen among the peoples, who will say, ‘These are the faithful people; because they believed the Lord, the Lord has delivered them and planted them.’ Therefore I will plant you as a desirable vineyard and rule you as a beloved flock, and I will command the rain and the dew, and they will satisfy you all the days of your life. 13 “And in the end, the lot of every one of you will be in eternal life, for you and your offspring, and I will receive your souls and store them up in peace, until the time of the age is fulfilled, and I restore you to your fathers and your fathers to you; and they will know by your hand that I have not chosen you in vain. These are the words the Lord spoke to me this night.” 14 All the people answered and said, “The Lord is our God, and him alone we will serve.” And all the people held a great feast that day and a renewal of it for 28 days.

24After these days Joshua the son of Nun assembled all the people again and said to them, “The Lord has testified to you this day. I have called heaven and earth to witness to you that if you will continue to serve the Lord, you will be his special people. But if you will not serve him and will obey the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live, say so this day before the Lord and go forth. But I and my house will serve the Lord.” 2 All the people lifted up their voice and wept, saying, “Perhaps the Lord will count us worthy; and it is better for us to die in the fear of him than to be destroyed out of the land.” 3 Joshua the son of Nun blessed the people and kissed them and said to them, “May your words bring mercy before our Lord, and may he send his angel and preserve you. Remember me after my death, and remember Moses the friend of the Lord. And do not let the words of the covenant he made with you depart from you all the days of your life.” And he sent them away, and each man departed to his inheritance. 4 But Joshua lay down on his bed and sent and called Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and said to him, “Now I see with my own eyes the transgression of this people, in which they will begin to deceive; but you, strengthen your hands in the time that you are with them.” And he kissed him and his father and his sons and blessed him and said, “May the Lord God of your fathers direct your ways and the ways of this people.” 5 When he had finished speaking to them, he drew his feet up into the bed and slept with his fathers. And his sons laid their hands upon his eyes. 6 Then all Israel gathered together to bury him, and they lamented him with a great lamentation, and in their lament they said, “Weep for the wing of this swift eagle, for he has flown away from us. Weep for the strength of this lion’s cub, for he is hidden from us. Who now will go and report to Moses the righteous that we have had a leader like him for forty years?” And they finished their mourning and buried him with their own hands on Mount Effraim, and each man returned to his tent. After the death of Joshua, the land of Israel was at rest.

25The Philistines sought to fight with the men of Israel, and the Israelites inquired of the Lord and said, “Shall we go up and fight against the Philistines?” God said to them, “If you go up with a pure heart, fight; but if your heart is defiled, do not go up.” They inquired again, saying, “How will we know whether all the heart of the people is the same?” God said to them, “Cast lots among your tribes, and every tribe that comes up under the lot will be set apart into one lot, and then you will know whose heart is clean and whose is defiled.” 2 The people said, “Let us first appoint a prince over us, and then cast lots.” The angel of the Lord said to them, “Appoint one.” The people said, “Whom shall we appoint who is worthy, Lord?” The angel of the Lord said to them, “Cast the lot on the tribe of Caleb, and the one shown by the lot will be your prince.” They cast the lot for the tribe of Caleb, and it came out on Kenaz, and they made him ruler over Israel. 3 Kenaz said to the people, “Bring your tribes to me and hear the word of the Lord.” The people gathered together, and Kenaz said to them, “You know what Moses the friend of the Lord charged you, that you should not turn aside from the law to the right or to the left. And Joshua, who came after him, gave you the same charge. Now we have heard from the mouth of the Lord that your heart is defiled. The Lord has charged us to cast lots among your tribes to know whose heart has departed from the Lord our God. Will not the fury of his anger come upon the people? But I promise you this day that even if a man of my own house comes out in the lot of sin, he will not be kept alive, but will be burned with fire.” The people said, “You have given good counsel; carry it out.” 4 The tribes were brought before him, and there were found of the tribe of Juda 345 men, of the tribe of Ruben 560, of the tribe of Simeon 775, of the tribe of Levi 150, of the tribe of Zabulon 655, of the tribe of Isachar 665, and of the tribe of Gad 380; of the tribe of Aser 665, of the tribe of Manasse 480, of the tribe of Effraim 468, and of the tribe of Benjamin 267. And the whole number of those found by the lot of sin was 6,110. Kenaz took them all and shut them up in prison, until it should be known what should be done with them. 5 Kenaz said, “Was it not of this that Moses the friend of the Lord spoke, saying, ‘There is a strong root among you bringing forth gall and bitterness?’ Now blessed be the Lord, who has revealed all the schemes of these men and has not allowed them to corrupt his people by their evil deeds. Bring here therefore the Demonstration and the Truth, and call Eleazar the priest, and let us inquire of the Lord through him.” 6 Then Kenaz and Eleazar and all the elders and the whole assembly prayed with one accord, saying, “Lord God of our fathers, reveal to your servants the truth, for we are found not believing in the wonders you did for our fathers from the time you brought them out of the land of Egypt until this day.” The Lord answered and said, “First ask those who were found, and let them confess the deeds they did deceitfully, and afterward they will be burned with fire.” 7 Kenaz brought them forth and said to them, “You know how Achiar confessed when the lot fell on him and declared all that he had done. Now declare to me all your wickedness and your schemes. Who knows? If you tell us the truth, even though you die now, yet God may have mercy on you when he raises the dead.” 8 One of them named Elas said to him, “Will not death come upon us now, that we will die by fire? Nevertheless I tell you, my lord, there are no schemes like these that we have wickedly devised. But if you will search out the truth plainly, question separately the men of each tribe, and then one of those standing by will see the difference of their sins.” 9 Kenaz questioned the men of his own tribe, and they told him, “We desired to imitate and make the calf that they made in the wilderness.” Then he questioned the men of the tribe of Ruben, who said, “We desired to sacrifice to the gods of those who live in the land.” He questioned the men of the tribe of Levi, who said, “We wanted to test the tabernacle, whether it was holy.” He questioned the rest of the tribe of Isachar, who said, “We wanted to inquire by the evil spirits of the idols, to see whether they revealed things plainly.” He questioned the men of the tribe of Zabulon, who said, “We desired to eat the flesh of our children, to learn whether God cares for them.” He questioned the rest of the tribe of Dan, who said, “The Amorites taught us what they did, so that we might teach our children; and they are hidden under the tent of Elas, who told you to question us. Send, therefore, and you will find them.” And Kenaz sent and found them. 10 After that he questioned those left of the tribe of Gad, and they said, “We committed adultery with each other’s wives.” Then he questioned the men of the tribe of Aser, who said, “We found seven golden images that the Amorites called the holy Nymphs, and we took them with the precious stones set on them and hid them; and now they are laid up under the top of Mount Sychem. Send, therefore, and you will find them.” And Kenaz sent men and removed them from there. 11 Now these are the Nymphs which, when they were called upon, would show the Amorites their works at every hour. These were devised by seven evil men after the flood, whose names are these: Canaan, Phuth, Selath, Nembroth, Elath, Desuath. There will never again be such a likeness in the world, carved by the hand of the craftsman and adorned with a variety of painting; they were set up and fixed for the consecration of idols. The stones were precious, brought from the land of Euilath; among them was a crystal and a green stone, and they showed their craftsmanship, carved like a stone pierced with open-work, and another graven on the top, and another marked as if with spots, so that it shone with its carving as if it showed the water of the deep lying beneath. 12 These are the precious stones the Amorites had in their holy places, and their price was beyond reckoning. For when anyone entered by night, he had no need of the light of a lantern, so brightly did the natural light of the stones shine forth. The one that gave the greatest light was cut in the form of a stone pierced with open-work and cleansed with bristles; for if any of the Amorites were blind, he went and put his eyes upon it and recovered his sight. When Kenaz found them, he set them apart and laid them up until he should know what would become of them. 13 After that he questioned those left of the tribe of Manasse, and they said, “We only defiled the Lord’s sabbaths.” He questioned those left of the tribe of Effraim, who said, “We desired to pass our sons and our daughters through the fire, so that we might know whether what was said was true.” And he questioned those left of the tribe of Benjamin, who said, “We desired at this time to examine the book of the law, whether God had plainly written what was in it, or whether Moses had taught it of himself.”

26When Kenaz had taken all these words and written them in a book and read them before the Lord, God said to him, “Take the men and what was found with them and all their goods, and put them in the bed of the river Phison, and burn them with fire, so that my anger may cease from them.” 2 Kenaz said, “Shall we burn these precious stones also with fire, or consecrate them to you, for there are none like them among us?” God said to him, “If God should receive in his own name any of the accursed thing, what should man do? So now take these precious stones and all that was found, both books and men; and when you deal with the men, set apart these stones with the books, for fire will not be able to burn them, and afterward I will show you how you must destroy them. But the men and all that was found, you shall burn with fire. And you shall assemble all the people and say to them, ‘This is what will be done to every man whose heart turns away from his God.’ 3 “When the fire has consumed those men, then take the books and the precious stones, which cannot be burned with fire, nor cut with iron, nor blotted out with water, and lay them on top of the mountain beside the new altar; and I will command a cloud, and it will go and take up dew and shed it upon the books and blot out what is written in them, for they cannot be blotted out with any water except such as has never served men. And after that I will send my lightning, and it will burn up the books themselves. 4 “As for the precious stones, I will command my angel, and he will take them and go and cast them into the depths of the sea, and I will charge the deep, and it will swallow them up; for they may not remain in the world, because they have been polluted by the idols of the Amorites. And I will command another angel, and he will take for me twelve stones out of the place where these seven were taken; and you, when you find them on top of the mountain where he will lay them, take them and put them on the shoulder-piece, opposite the twelve stones that Moses set there in the wilderness, and consecrate them in the breastplate according to the twelve tribes. And do not say, ‘How will I know which stone to set for which tribe?’ I will tell you the name of the tribe that matches the name of the stone, and you will find both engraved together.” 5 Kenaz went and took all that had been found, and the men with it, and assembled all the people again, and said to them, “You have seen all the wonders God has shown us to this day; and when we searched out all who had deviously devised evil against the Lord and against Israel, God revealed them according to their works. Now cursed be every man who plans to do the like among you, brothers.” And all the people answered, “Amen, Amen.” When he had said this, he burned all the men with fire, and all that was found with them, except the precious stones. 6 After that Kenaz wanted to test whether the stones could be burned with fire, and cast them into the fire. And when they fell in, the fire was immediately quenched. Kenaz took iron to break them, and when the sword touched them, the iron melted. Then he wanted at least to blot out the books with water, but when the water fell on them, it froze. When he saw this, he said, “Blessed be God, who has done such great wonders for the children of men, and made Adam the first-created and showed him all things; so that when Adam had sinned through them, he then denied him all these things, so that, if he showed them to the race of men, they would not gain mastery over them.” 7 When he had said this, he took the books and the stones and laid them on top of the mountain by the new altar, as the Lord had commanded him, and took a peace offering and burnt offerings and offered 2,000 on the new altar, offering them all as a burnt sacrifice. On that day he and all the people together kept a great feast. 8 That night God did as he had said to Kenaz: he commanded a cloud, and it went and took dew from the ice of paradise and shed it upon the books and blotted them out. After that an angel came and burned them up, and another angel took the precious stones and cast them into the heart of the sea, and he charged the depth of the sea, and it swallowed them up. And another angel went and brought twelve stones and laid them right by the place from which he had taken the seven. And he engraved on them the names of the twelve tribes. 9 Kenaz arose the next morning and found those twelve stones on top of the mountain where he himself had laid the seven. And the engraving on them was as if the form of eyes was portrayed on them. 10 The first stone, on which was written the name of the tribe of Ruben, was like a sardine stone. The second stone was engraved with ivory, and on it was engraved the name of the tribe of Simeon, and the likeness of a topaz was seen in it. On the third stone was engraved the name of the tribe of Levi, and it was like an emerald. The fourth stone was called a crystal, on which was engraved the name of the tribe of Juda, and it was like a carbuncle. The fifth stone was green, and on it was engraved the name of the tribe of Isachar, and the color of a sapphire was in it. The engraving of the sixth stone was as if it had been inscribed, speckled with various markings, and on it was written the tribe of Zabulon, and the jasper stone was like it. 11 The engraving of the seventh stone shone and showed within itself, as if it enclosed the water of the deep, and on it was written the name of the tribe of Dan, and that stone was like a ligure. The eighth stone was cut with adamant, and on it was written the name of the tribe of Neptalim, and it was like an amethyst. The engraving of the ninth stone was pierced, and it was from Mount Ophir, and on it was written the tribe of Gad, and an agate stone was like it. The engraving of the tenth stone was hollowed and gave the likeness of a stone of Theman, and on it was written the tribe of Aser, and a chrysolite was like it. The eleventh stone was a choice stone from Libanus, and on it was written the name of the tribe of Joseph, and a beryl was like it. The twelfth stone was cut from the height of Sion, and on it was written the tribe of Benjamin, and the onyx stone was like it. 12 God said to Kenaz, “Take these stones and put them in the ark of the covenant of the Lord with the tablets of the covenant that I gave to Moses at Horeb, and they will be there with them until Jael arises to build a house in my name; and then he will set them before me upon the two cherubim, and they will be in my sight as a memorial of the house of Israel. 13 “And when the sins of my people are full, and their enemies have mastery over their house, I will take these stones and the former ones together with the tablets, and lay them up in the place from which they were first brought forth, and they will be there until I remember the world and visit the dwellers on earth. Then I will take them, and many others better than they, from that place which eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, until the like comes to pass for the world; and the righteous will have no need of the light of the sun nor of the shining of the moon, for the light of the precious stones will be their light.” 14 Kenaz arose and said, “See what good things God has done for men, and because of their sins they have been deprived of them all. Now I know this day that the race of men is weak, and their life will be counted as nothing.” 15 And having said this, he took the stones from the place where they were laid, and as he took them, there was, as it were, the light of the sun poured out upon them, and the earth shone with their light. Kenaz put them in the ark of the covenant of the Lord with the tablets, as he was commanded, and there they are to this day.

27After this he armed 300,000 of the people and went up to fight against the Amorites, and on the first day he killed 800,000 men, and on the second day he killed about 500,000. 2 When the third day came, certain men of the people spoke evil against Kenaz, saying, “Kenaz lies at home with his wife and his concubines and sends us to battle, so that we may be destroyed before our enemies.” 3 When the servants of Kenaz heard this, they brought him word. He commanded a captain of fifty, and he brought thirty-seven of those who had spoken against him and shut them up in custody. 4 Their names are these: Le, Uz, Betul, Ephal, Dealma, Anaph, Desac, Besac, Gethel, Anael, Anazim, Noac, Cehec, Boac, Obal, Iabal, Enath, Beath, Zelut, Ephor, Ezeth, Desaph, Abidan, Esar, Moab, Duzal, Azath, Phelac, Igat, Zophal, Eliesor, Ecar, Zebath, Sebath, Nesach, and Zere. When the captain of fifty had shut them up as Kenaz commanded, Kenaz said, “When the Lord has worked salvation for his people by my hand, then I will punish these men.” 5 And having said this, Kenaz commanded the captain of fifty, “Go and choose 300 of my servants and as many horses, and let no one of the people know the hour when I will go out to battle; only at the hour I tell you, have the men ready this night.” 6 Kenaz sent messengers as spies to see where the multitude of the camp of the Amorites was. The messengers went and spied and saw that the multitude of the camp of the Amorites was moving among the rocks, planning to come and fight against Israel. The messengers returned and told him this. Kenaz arose by night, he and 300 horsemen with him, and took a trumpet in his hand and began to go down with the 300 men. When he was near the camp of the Amorites, he said to his servants, “Wait here, and I will go down alone and look at the camp of the Amorites. And if I blow the trumpet, come down; but if not, wait for me here.” 7 Kenaz went down alone, and before he went down he prayed and said, “O Lord God of our fathers, you have shown your servant the marvelous things you have prepared to do by your covenant in the last days; now send your servant one of your wonders, and I will overcome your adversaries, so that they and all the nations and your people may know that the Lord does not deliver by the size of an army nor by the strength of horsemen, when they see the sign of deliverance you will work for me this day. I will draw my sword out of the scabbard, and it will glitter in the camp of the Amorites; and if the Amorites recognize that it is I, Kenaz, then I will know that you have delivered them into my hand. But if they do not recognize that it is I, and think it is another, then I will know that you have not listened to me but have delivered me to my enemies. And if I am indeed handed over to death, I will know that because of my iniquities the Lord has not heard me and has delivered me to my enemies; but he will not destroy his inheritance by my death.” 8 He set out after he had prayed, and heard the multitude of the Amorites saying, “Let us arise and fight against Israel, for we know that our holy Nymphs are there among them and will deliver them into our hands.” 9 Kenaz arose, for the spirit of the Lord clothed him like a garment, and he drew his sword; and when its light shone upon the Amorites like sharp lightning, they saw it and said, “Is this not the sword of Kenaz that has made many of our wounded? Now the word we spoke is proved true, that our holy Nymphs have delivered them into our hands. Now this day there will be feasting for the Amorites, when our enemy is delivered to us. Now therefore arise, and let everyone strap on his sword and begin the battle.” 10 When Kenaz heard their words, he was clothed with the spirit of might and changed into another man, and went down into the camp of the Amorites and began to strike them. The Lord sent before his face the angel Ingethel, who is set over hidden things and works unseen, and another angel of might helping with him. Ingethel struck the Amorites with blindness, so that every man who saw his neighbor counted him as his adversary, and they killed one another. And the angel Zeruel, who is set over strength, held up the arms of Kenaz so that they would not perceive him; and Kenaz struck down forty-five thousand of the Amorites, and they themselves struck one another, and forty-five thousand fell. 11 When Kenaz had struck down a great multitude, he wanted to loosen his hand from his sword, for the handle of the sword stuck so that it could not be loosed, and his right hand had taken into it the strength of the sword. Then those of the Amorites who were left fled into the mountains; but Kenaz looked for a way to loose his hand. He looked with his eyes and saw a man of the Amorites fleeing, and he caught him and said to him, “I know that the Amorites are cunning; now show me how I may loose my hand from this sword, and I will let you go.” The Amorite said, “Go and take a man of the Hebrews and kill him, and while his blood is still warm, hold your hand beneath and receive his blood, and so your hand will be loosed.” Kenaz said, “As the Lord lives, if you had said, ‘Take a man of the Amorites,’ I would have taken one of them and spared your life; but since you said ‘of the Hebrews,’ to show your hatred, your mouth will be against yourself, and as you have said, so I will do to you.” And when he had said this, Kenaz killed him, and while his blood was still warm, he held his hand beneath and received it, and his hand was loosed. 12 Kenaz departed and took off his garments and threw himself into the river and washed, and came up again and changed his garments, and returned to his young men. Now the Lord had cast a heavy sleep upon them in the night, and they slept and knew nothing of all that Kenaz had done. Kenaz came and woke them out of sleep, and they looked with their eyes and saw, and the field was full of dead bodies; and they were astonished in their minds and looked at one another. Kenaz said to them, “Why do you marvel? Are the ways of the Lord like the ways of men? For with men a multitude prevails, but with God, what he appoints. So if God has willed to work deliverance for this people by my hands, why do you marvel? Arise and let each man strap on his sword, and we will go home to our brothers.” 13 When all Israel heard of the deliverance worked by the hands of Kenaz, all the people came out with one accord to meet him and said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has made you ruler over his people and has shown that the things he spoke to you are sure; what we heard by word we now see with our eyes, for the work of the word of God is plain.” 14 Kenaz said to them, “Ask your brothers, and let them tell you how greatly they labored with me in the battle.” And the men who were with him said, “As the Lord lives, we did not fight, nor did we know anything, except that when we woke, we saw the field full of dead bodies.” And the people answered, “Now we know that when the Lord appoints to work deliverance for his people, he has no need of a multitude, but only of holiness.” 15 Kenaz said to the captain of fifty who had shut those men up in prison, “Bring out those men, so that we may hear their words.” When he had brought them out, Kenaz said to them, “Tell me, what did you see in me that you murmured among the people?” They said, “Why do you ask us? Why do you ask us? Now command that we be burned with fire, for we are not dying for this sin we have now spoken, but for that former one in which those men were taken who were burned in their sins; for then we consented to their sin, saying, ‘Perhaps the people will not notice us’; and so we escaped the people. But now we have rightly been made a public example for our sins, in that we fell into slandering you.” Kenaz said, “If you yourselves therefore witness against yourselves, how shall I have compassion on you?” And Kenaz commanded them to be burned with fire, and cast their ashes into the place where they had burned the multitude of the sinners, into the brook Phison. 16 Kenaz ruled over his people fifty-seven years, and there was fear upon all his enemies all his days.

28When the days of Kenaz drew near for him to die, he sent and called all the elders, and the two prophets Jabis and Phinehas, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and said to them, “Now the Lord has shown me all his marvelous works that he has prepared to do for his people in the last days. 2 “Now I will make my covenant with you this day, that you do not forsake the Lord your God after my departure. For you have seen all the marvels that came upon those who sinned, and all that they declared, confessing their sins of their own accord, and how the Lord our God destroyed them because they transgressed his covenant. Therefore now spare those of your house and your sons, and remain in the ways of the Lord your God, so that the Lord does not destroy his inheritance.” 3 Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said, “If Kenaz the ruler bids me, and the prophets and the people and the elders, I will speak a word I heard from my father when he was dying, and I will not keep silent about the commandment he gave me when his soul was being received.” Kenaz the ruler and the prophets said, “Let Phinehas speak. Shall anyone else speak before the priest who keeps the commandments of the Lord our God, seeing that truth proceeds from his mouth and a shining light from his heart?” 4 Then Phinehas said, “My father, when he was dying, commanded me, ‘This is what you shall say to the children of Israel when they are gathered together in the assembly: The Lord appeared to me three days before this in a dream in the night and said to me: You have seen, and your father before you, how greatly I have labored for my people; and after your death this people will arise and corrupt their ways, departing from my commandments, and I will be exceedingly angry with them. Yet I will remember the time that was before the ages, even the time when there was no man and there was no iniquity in it, when I said that the world should be, and those who should come would praise me in it; and I will plant a great vineyard, and out of it I will choose a plant and tend it and call it by my name, and it will be mine forever. But when I have done all that I have spoken, nevertheless my planting, which is called by my name, will not know me, its planter, but will corrupt its fruit and will not yield me its fruit.’ These are the things my father commanded me to speak to this people.” 5 Kenaz lifted up his voice, and the elders and all the people with one accord wept with a great lamentation until evening, and said, “Will the shepherd destroy his flock for no reason, unless it continues in sin against him? Will it not be he who spares, according to the abundance of his mercy, seeing he has spent great labor upon us?” 6 Now while they were sitting, the holy spirit that dwelt in Kenaz leapt upon him and took away from him his bodily senses, and he began to prophesy, saying, “Now I see what I did not look for, and perceive what I did not know. Listen now, you who dwell on the earth, just as those who sojourned in it prophesied before me when they saw this hour, even before the earth was corrupted, so that you may know the prophecies appointed beforehand, all you who dwell in it. 7 “Now I see flames that do not burn, and I hear springs of water awakened out of sleep that have no foundation; nor do I see the tops of the mountains, nor the canopy of the firmament, but all things unseen and invisible, which have no place at all; and although my eye does not know what it sees, my heart will discover what it can learn. 8 “Out of the flame I saw, which did not burn, I looked, and a spark came up and, as it were, built itself a floor under heaven, and the likeness of its floor was as a spider spins, in the fashion of a shield. When the foundation was laid, I looked, and from that spring there was stirred up, as it were, a boiling froth, and it changed itself, as it were, into another foundation; and between the two foundations, the upper and the lower, there drew near, out of the light of the invisible place, as it were forms of men, and they walked to and fro; and a voice said, ‘These will be a foundation for men, and they will dwell in it 7,000 years.’ 9 “The lower foundation was a pavement, and the upper was of froth; and those who came forth out of the light of the invisible place are those who will dwell in it, and the name of that man is Adam. And when he has sinned against me and the time is fulfilled, the spark will be quenched and the spring will cease, and so they will be changed.” 10 After Kenaz had spoken these words, he awoke and his senses returned to him, but he did not know what he had spoken or what he had seen; he said only this to the people, “If the rest of the righteous are like this after they are dead, it is better for them to die to the corruptible world, so that they do not see sin.” When Kenaz had said this, he died and slept with his fathers, and the people mourned for him 30 days.

29After these things the people appointed Zebul ruler over them; and at that time he gathered the people together and said to them, “We know all the labor with which Kenaz labored with us in the days of his life. Now if he had had sons, they would have been princes over the people; but since his daughters are still alive, let them receive a greater inheritance among the people, because their father in his lifetime refused to give it to them, so that he would not be called covetous and greedy for gain.” The people said, “Do all that is right in your eyes.” 2 Now Kenaz had three daughters, whose names are these: Ethema the firstborn, the second Pheila, the third Zelpha. Zebul gave to the firstborn all the land around the Phoenicians, to the second he gave the olive yard of Accaron, and to the third all the tilled land around Azotus. And he gave them husbands: to the firstborn Elisephan, to the second Odiel, and to the third Doel. 3 In those days Zebul set up a treasury for the Lord and said to the people, “If any man will consecrate gold and silver to the Lord, let him bring it to the Lord’s treasury in Sylo; only let no one who has property belonging to idols think to consecrate it to the Lord’s treasures, for the Lord does not desire the abominations of the accursed things, or you will disturb the assembly of the Lord, for the wrath that is past is enough.” And all the people brought what their heart moved them to bring, both men and women, gold and silver. And all that was brought was weighed, and it was 20 talents of gold and 250 talents of silver. 4 Zebul judged the people twenty-five years. When he had completed his time, he sent and called all the people and said, “Now I am about to die. Look to the testimonies that those before us testified, and do not let your heart be like the waves of the sea; but just as the wave of the sea understands nothing except the things that are in the sea, so let your heart also think on nothing except the things that belong to the law.” And Zebul slept with his fathers and was buried in the tomb of his father.

30Then the children of Israel had no man whom they could appoint as judge over them, and their heart fell away, and they forgot the promise and transgressed the ways that Moses and Joshua the servants of the Lord had commanded them, and were led away after the daughters of the Amorites and served their gods. 2 The Lord was angry with them and sent his angel and said, “I chose for myself one people out of all the tribes of the earth, and I said that my glory would abide with them in this world, and I sent them Moses my servant to declare to them my great majesty and my judgments; and they have transgressed my ways. Now therefore I will stir up their enemies, and they will rule over them; and then all the peoples will say, ‘Because we have transgressed the ways of God and of our fathers, these things have come upon us.’ Yet a woman will rule over them, who will give them light for 40 years.” 3 After these things the Lord stirred up against them Jabin king of Asor, and he began to fight against them; and he had as captain of his forces Sisera, who had 8,000 chariots of iron. He came to Mount Effrem and fought against the people, and Israel feared him greatly, and the people could not stand against him all the days of Sisera. 4 When Israel was brought very low, all the children of Israel gathered together with one accord at the mountain of Juda and said, “We called ourselves more blessed than all peoples, and now we are brought lower than all nations, so that we cannot dwell in our land, and our enemies rule over us. Now who has done all this to us? Is it not our iniquities, because we have forsaken the Lord God of our fathers and have walked in things that could not profit us? Now therefore come, let us fast seven days, both men and women, from the greatest even to the nursing child. Who knows whether God will be reconciled to his inheritance, so that he does not destroy the planting of his vineyard?” 5 After the people had fasted 7 days, sitting in sackcloth, the Lord sent them on the 7th day Deborah, who said to them, “Can the sheep appointed for slaughter answer the one who kills it, when both the one who kills and the one who is slain keep silent, even when it is provoked against it? Now you were born to be a flock before our Lord. He led you into the height of the clouds and subdued angels beneath your feet, appointed a law for you, gave you commandments through prophets, chastised you through rulers, and showed you not a few wonders; and for your sake he commanded the lights of heaven, and they stood still in the places where they were bidden; and when your enemies came upon you, he rained hailstones on them and destroyed them; and Moses and Joshua and Kenaz and Zebul gave you commandments. And you have not obeyed them. 6 “For while they lived, you showed yourselves obedient to your God, but when they died, your heart died also. You became like iron thrust into the fire, which, when it is melted by the flame, becomes like water, but when it comes out of the fire returns to its hardness. So you also, while those who admonish you burn you, show the effect; and when they are dead, you forget everything. 7 “Now the Lord will have compassion on you this day, not for your sakes, but for the sake of his covenant that he made with your fathers and for the sake of his oath that he swore, that he would not forsake you forever. But know that after my death you will begin to sin in your latter days. Therefore the Lord will perform marvelous things among you and will deliver your enemies into your hands. For your fathers are dead, but God, who made a covenant with them, is life.”

31Deborah sent and called Barak and said to him, “Get up and brace yourself like a man, and go down and fight against Sisera; for I see the constellations greatly moved in their ranks and preparing to fight for you. I also see the lightnings, unmoving in their courses, setting out to stop the wheels of the chariots of those who boast in the might of Sisera, who says, ‘I will surely go down in the arm of my might to fight against Israel, and I will divide their spoil among my servants, and I will take their beautiful women for concubines.’ Therefore the Lord has spoken concerning him that the arm of a weak woman will overcome him, and young women will take his spoil, and he himself will fall into the hands of a woman.” 2 When Deborah and the people and Barak went down to meet their enemies, immediately the Lord disturbed the courses of his stars and said to them, “Hurry and go, for your enemies are falling upon you; confound their arms and break the strength of their hearts, for I have come so that my people may prevail. For though my people have sinned, yet I will have mercy on them.” When this was said, the stars went forth as they were commanded and burned up their enemies. And the number of those gathered and slain in one hour was very many thousands of men. But Sisera they did not destroy, for so it was commanded them. 3 When Sisera had fled on his horse to save his life, Jael the wife of Aber the Cinean adorned herself with her ornaments and came out to meet him; now the woman was very beautiful. When she saw him, she said, “Come in and take food and sleep, and in the evening I will send my servants with you, for I know you will remember me and reward me.” Sisera came in, and when he saw roses scattered on the bed, he said, “If I am delivered, O Jael, I will go to my mother, and you will be my wife.” 4 After this Sisera was thirsty and said to Jael, “Give me a little water, for I am faint and my soul burns because of the flame I saw in the stars.” Jael said to him, “Rest a little while, and then you will drink.” 5 When Sisera had fallen asleep, Jael went to the flock and milked milk from it. As she milked, she said, “Now remember, O Lord, when you divided every tribe and nation on the earth, did you not choose out Israel alone, and liken him to no beast except the ram that goes before the flock and leads it? See, then, how Sisera has thought in his heart, saying, ‘I will go and punish the flock of the Most Mighty.’ And now I will take some of the milk of the beasts to which you likened your people, and will go and give it to him to drink; and when he has drunk, he will become weak, and after that I will kill him. And this will be the sign you give me, O Lord: that while Sisera sleeps, when I go in, if he wakes and at once asks me, saying, ‘Give me water to drink,’ then I will know that my prayer has been heard.” 6 So Jael returned and went in, and Sisera woke and said to her, “Give me a drink, for I burn mightily and my soul is inflamed.” Jael took wine and mixed it with the milk and gave it to him to drink, and he drank and fell asleep. 7 But Jael took a stake in her left hand and drew near to him, saying, “If the Lord gives me this sign, I will know that Sisera will fall into my hands. I will throw him from the bed where he sleeps onto the ground, and if he does not notice it, I will know that he is handed over.” Jael took Sisera and pushed him from the bed onto the ground, but he did not notice, for he was exceedingly faint. Jael said, “Strengthen my arm this day, O Lord, for your sake and for your people’s sake, and for those who put their trust in you.” And Jael took the stake and set it on his temple and struck with the hammer. As he died, Sisera said to Jael, “Pain has come upon me, Jael, and I die like a woman.” Jael said to him, “Go boast before your father in hell, and tell him that you have fallen into the hands of a woman.” And she finished and killed him, and laid his body there until Barak should return.[14] 8 Now the mother of Sisera was called Themech, and she sent to her friends, saying, “Come, let us go out together to meet my son, and you will see the daughters of the Hebrews whom my son will bring here to be his concubines.” 9 But Barak returned from pursuing Sisera, greatly distressed because he had not found him, and Jael came out to meet him and said, “Come, enter in, you who are blessed of God, and I will hand over to you your enemy whom you pursued and have not found.” Barak went in and found Sisera dead, and said, “Blessed be the Lord, who sent his spirit and said, ‘Into the hands of a woman Sisera will be delivered.’” And when he had said this, he cut off the head of Sisera and sent it to his mother, with a message, “Receive your son whom you expected to come with spoil.”

32Then Deborah and Barak, son of Abinoam, along with all the people, sang a hymn to the Lord on that day, saying, “See, from on high the Lord has shown us his glory, just as he did in the past when he sent forth his voice to confuse the languages of men. He selected our nation, rescued Abraham our forefather from the fire, chose him above all his brothers, shielded him from the fire, delivered him from the bricks of the tower’s construction, and gave him a son in his old age, brought him from a barren womb, and all the angels envied him, and the commanders of the hosts were jealous of him. 2 “When they were jealous of him, God said to him, ‘Sacrifice for me your child and offer for me that which I gave to you.’ Abraham did not contradict him and immediately went forth. As he went, he said to his son, ‘Now, my son, I offer you for a burnt offering and surrender you to him who gave you to me.’[15] 3 “The son said to his father, ‘Listen to me, father. If a lamb from the flock is accepted as an offering to the Lord as a pleasant aroma, and if sheep are destined for slaughter due to the sins of men, yet man is set to inherit the earth, how can you now say to me, “Come and inherit a life secure, and a time that cannot be measured”? What if I had not been born in the world to be offered as a sacrifice to him who made me? And this shall be my greatest fortune among all men, for no other such thing shall happen; and through me shall generations be taught, and by me shall peoples learn that the Lord has deemed the soul of a man worthy to be a sacrifice to him.’ 4 “And when his father had placed him upon the altar and had bound his feet to kill him, the Almighty quickly sent forth his voice from above, saying, ‘Do not kill your son, nor destroy the offspring of your body: for now I have made myself known to those who are unaware of me, and have silenced those who constantly speak ill of you. And your memory shall be before me forever, and your name and the name of this your son from one generation to another.’[16] 5 “And to Isaac, he gave two sons, who also came from a closed womb, for at that time their mother was in the third year of her marriage. And it will not be so with any other woman, nor shall any wife boast herself in this manner, who joins her husband in the third year. And to him were born two sons, Jacob and Esau. And God loved Jacob, but he hated Esau because of his actions. 6 “And it happened in the old age of their father, that Isaac blessed Jacob and sent him to Mesopotamia, and there he fathered twelve sons, and they went down into Egypt and dwelt there. 7 “And when their adversaries treated them harshly, the people cried out to the Lord, and their prayer was heard, and he brought them out from there, and led them to Mount Sinai, and revealed to them the foundation of understanding which he had prepared from the creation of the world; and then the foundation shook, the hosts sent forth the lightning on their paths, and the winds blew from their storehouses, and the earth was moved from her foundation, and the mountains and the rocks trembled in their places, and the clouds raised their waves against the flame of the fire that it should not consume the world.[17] 8 “Then did the depths awake from their sources, and all the waves of the sea gathered. Then did Paradise exhale the scent of her fruits, and the cedars of Lebanon were uprooted from their foundations. And the animals of the field were frightened in the homes of the forests, and all his creations came together to witness the Lord when he established a covenant with the children of Israel. And all things that the Almighty said, these he observed, having Moses his beloved as a witness. 9 “And when he was near death, God assigned to him the heavens, and showed him these witnesses, saying, ‘Let the heaven which you have entered and the earth on which you have walked until now be a witness between me and you and my people. For the sun and the moon and the stars shall serve us.’ 10 “And when Joshua began to rule over the people, it happened on the day when he fought against the enemies, that the evening approached, while the battle was still fierce, and Joshua said to the sun and the moon, ‘O you servants appointed between the Almighty and his children, see now, the battle continues, and do you abandon your duty? Therefore, stand still today and provide light to his children, and cast darkness upon our enemies.’ And they did so. 11 “And now in these days, Sisera arose to enslave us, and we cried out to the Lord our God, and he commanded the stars, saying, ‘Leave your positions, and burn my enemies, that they may recognize my power.’ And the stars descended and scattered their camp and protected us without any effort. 12 “Therefore, we will not cease to sing praises, nor shall our mouths be silent from telling of his marvelous works: for he has remembered his promises, both new and old, and has shown us his salvation: and therefore does Jael boast among women, because she alone brought this victory to fruition, as she killed Sisera with her own hands.[18] 13 “O earth, go forth, you heavens and lightnings, go, you angels and hosts, and tell the ancestors in the treasure-houses of their souls, and say, ‘The Almighty has not forgotten the least of all the promises he made with us, saying, “I will perform many wonders for your children.” And now from this day forward, it shall be known that whatever God has promised to men that he will fulfill, he will fulfill it, even if man dies.’ 14 “Sing praises, sing praises, O Deborah, and let the grace of a holy spirit awaken in you, and begin to praise the works of the Lord: for there will not again arise such a day, when the stars will bring news and defeat the enemies of Israel, as they were commanded. From this time onward, if Israel finds himself in difficulty, let him call upon these witnesses along with their servants, and they will go on a mission to the Most High, and he will remember this day, and will send deliverance to his covenant. 15 “And you, Deborah, begin to speak of what you saw in the field: how the people walked and went forth safely, and the stars fought on their behalf. Rejoice, O land, over those who dwell in you, for in you is the knowledge of the Lord which builds his stronghold in you. For it was rightly done that God took from you the rib of him who was first formed, knowing that from his rib Israel would be born. And your formation shall be a testimony of what the Lord has done for his people. 16 “Wait, O you hours of the day, and do not rush onward, that we may declare what our understanding can bring forth, for night will come upon us. And it shall be like the night when God struck the firstborn of the Egyptians for the sake of his firstborn. 17 “And then shall I end my hymn because the time will be hastened for his righteous ones. For I will sing to him as in the renewal of creation, and the people shall remember this deliverance, and it shall be a testimony to them. Let the sea also bear witness, along with its depths, for not only did God dry it up before the faces of our ancestors, but he also scattered and overcame our enemies.” 18 And when Deborah finished speaking, she went up with the people together to Shiloh, and they offered sacrifices and burnt offerings, and sounded the broad trumpets. And when they sounded and had offered the sacrifices, Deborah said, “This shall be a testimony of the trumpets between the stars and the Lord of them.”

33Deborah went down from there and judged Israel 40 years. When the day of her death drew near, she sent and gathered all the people and said to them, “Listen now, my people. I admonish you as a woman of God and give you light as one of the race of women; obey me now as your mother, and listen to my words, as men who will yourselves die. 2 “I am about to die, by the way of all flesh, the way you also will go. Only direct your heart to the Lord your God during the time of your life, for after your death you will not be able to repent of the things in which you live. 3 “For death is now sealed and accomplished, and the measure and the time and the years have restored what was committed to them. Even if you seek to do evil in hell after your death, you will not be able to, because the desire of sin will cease, and the evil creation will lose its power; and hell, which receives what is committed to it, will not give it back unless it is demanded by the one who committed it. Now therefore, my sons, obey my voice while you have the time of life and the light of the law, and direct your ways.” 4 When Deborah spoke these words, all the people lifted up their voice together and wept, saying, “Now, mother, you are dying and forsaking your sons; to whom do you commit them? Pray, therefore, for us, and after your departure may your soul remember us forever.” 5 Deborah answered the people, “While a man is still alive, he can pray for himself and for his sons; but after his end he will not be able to entreat or to remember anyone. Therefore do not hope in your fathers, for they will not profit you unless you are found like them. But then your likeness will be like the stars of heaven, which have been shown to you at this time.” 6 Deborah died and slept with her fathers and was buried in the city of her fathers, and the people mourned for her 70 days. As they wept for her, they spoke this lament, “A mother has perished out of Israel, a holy one who ruled in the house of Jacob, who made firm the fence around her generation; and her generation will seek after her.” After her death the land had rest seven years.

34At that time a certain Aod came up, one of the priests of Midian, and he was a sorcerer, and he said to Israel, “Why do you give heed to your law? Come, and I will show you a thing such as your law does not have.” The people said, “What can you show us that our law does not have?” He said to the people, “Have you ever seen the sun by night?” They said, “No.” He said, “Whenever you wish, I will show it to you, so that you may know that our gods have power and will not deceive those who serve them.” They said, “Show us.” 2 He went away and worked with his magic, commanding the angels who were set over sorceries, because for a long time he had sacrificed to them. 3 This power was formerly in the hands of the angels and was performed by them before they were judged, and they would have destroyed the immeasurable world; and because they transgressed, the angels no longer had the power. For when they were judged, the power was not committed to the rest; and by these powers work those who serve men in sorceries, until the immeasurable age comes. 4 At that time Aod, by the magic art, showed the people the sun by night. The people were astonished and said, “See what great things the gods of the Midianites can do, and we did not know it!” 5 And God, wishing to test Israel, whether they were still in iniquity, allowed the angels, and their work succeeded, and the people of Israel were deceived and began to serve the gods of the Midianites. God said, “I will deliver them into the hands of the Midianites, since by them they are deceived.” And he delivered them into their hands, and the Midianites began to bring Israel into bondage.

35Now Gideon was the son of Joath, the mightiest man among all his brothers. When it was summertime, he came to the mountain, having sheaves with him, to thresh them there and escape from the Midianites who pressed upon him. The angel of the Lord met him and said to him, “Where do you come from, and where is your entrance?” 2 He said to him, “Why do you ask me where I come from? For distress surrounds me, because Israel has fallen into affliction and is indeed delivered into the hands of the Midianites. And where are the wonders our fathers told us of, saying, ‘The Lord chose Israel alone before all the peoples of the earth’? Now he has delivered us up and has forgotten the promises he made to our fathers. We would rather have been delivered to death once for all than that his people should be punished like this, time after time.” 3 The angel of the Lord said to him, “It is not for nothing that you are delivered up; your own schemes have brought these things upon you, for since you have forsaken the promises you received from the Lord, these evils have come upon you, and you have not been mindful of the commandments of God that those before you commanded you. Therefore you have come into the displeasure of your God. But he will have mercy on you, as no man has mercy, upon the race of Israel; and not for your sakes, but because of those who have fallen asleep. 4 “Now come, I will send you, and you will deliver Israel out of the hand of the Midianites. For this is what the Lord says, ‘Though Israel is not righteous, yet because the Midianites are sinners, therefore, knowing the iniquity of my people, I will forgive them; and afterward I will rebuke them for the evil they have done, but on the Midianites I will be avenged at once.’” 5 Gideon said, “Who am I, and what is my father’s house, that I should go against the Midianites in battle?” The angel said to him, “Perhaps you think that as man’s way is, so is the way of God. For men look upon the glory of the world and upon riches, but God looks upon what is upright and good, and upon meekness. Now therefore go, prepare yourself, and the Lord will be with you, for he has chosen you to take vengeance on his enemies, as he has bidden you.” 6 Gideon said to him, “Do not let my lord be angry if I speak a word. Moses, the first of all the prophets, asked the Lord for a sign, and it was given him. But who am I, unless the Lord who has chosen me gives me a sign, that I may know I am going rightly?” The angel of the Lord said to him, “Run and take water for me from that pit over there and pour it on this rock, and I will give you a sign.” And he went and took it as he commanded him. 7 The angel said to him, “Before you pour the water on the rock, ask what you would have it become, either blood, or fire, or that it not appear at all.” Gideon said, “Let half of it become blood and half fire.” Gideon poured out the water on the rock, and when he had poured it out, half of it became flame and half blood, and they were mingled together, the fire and the blood; yet the blood did not quench the fire, nor did the fire consume the blood. When Gideon saw this, he asked for yet another sign.

36Gideon took 300 men and departed and came to the farthest part of the camp of Midian, and he heard every man speaking to his neighbor and saying, “You will see a confusion beyond reckoning from the sword of Gideon coming upon us, for God has delivered the camp of the Midianites into his hands, and he will begin to destroy us, the mother with the children, because our sins are full, as our gods also showed us, and we did not believe them. Now arise, let us save our lives and flee.” 2 When Gideon heard these words, immediately he was clothed with the spirit of the Lord, and, endued with power, he said to the 300 men, “Arise, and let each of you strap on his sword, for the Midianites are delivered into our hands.” The men went down with him, and he drew near and began to fight. They blew the trumpet and cried out together and said, “The sword of the Lord is upon us.” And they killed about 120,000 of the Midianites, and the rest of the Midianites fled. 3 After these things Gideon came and gathered the people of Israel together and said to them, “The Lord sent me to fight your battle, and I went as he commanded me. Now I ask one request of you: do not turn away your face, and let every man give me the golden armlets that are on your hands.” Gideon spread out a coat, and every man threw his armlets upon it, and they were all weighed, and their weight was found to be 12 talents. Gideon took them, and from them he made idols and worshiped them. 4 God said, “Truly one course is appointed: that I will not rebuke Gideon in his lifetime, because when he destroyed the sanctuary of Baal, all men said, ‘Let Baal avenge himself.’ Now therefore if I chastise him for the evil he has done against me, you will say, ‘It was not God who chastised him, but Baal, because he sinned against Baal before.’ Therefore now Gideon will die at a good old age, so that they may have nothing to say. But after Gideon is dead, I will punish him once, because he has transgressed against me.” And Gideon died at a good old age and was buried in his own city.

37He had a son by a concubine, whose name was Abimelech; this son killed all his brothers, desiring to be ruler over the people. 2 Then all the trees of the field came together to the fig tree and said, “Come, reign over us.” The fig tree said, “Was I really born into the kingship or the rule over the trees? Or was I planted for that, that I should reign over you? And therefore, just as I cannot reign over you, neither will Abimelech keep his rule.” After that the trees came together to the vine and said, “Come, reign over us.” The vine said, “I was planted to give men the sweetness of wine, and I am preserved by yielding them my fruit. But just as I cannot reign over you, so will the blood of Abimelech be required at your hand.” After that the trees came to the apple and said, “Come, reign over us.” He said, “I was commanded to yield men a fruit of sweet fragrance. Therefore I cannot reign over you, and Abimelech will die by stones.” 3 Then the trees came to the bramble and said, “Come, reign over us.” The bramble said, “When the thorn was born, truth shone forth in the likeness of a thorn. When our first father was condemned to death, the earth was condemned to bring forth thorns and thistles. And when the truth enlightened Moses, it was by a thorn bush that it enlightened him. Now therefore it will be that by me the truth will be heard by you. Now if you have spoken in sincerity to the bramble, that it should truly reign over you, sit under its shadow; but if with deceit, then let fire go forth and devour and consume the trees of the field. For the apple tree was made for the chastisers, the fig tree was made for the people, and the vine was made for those who were before us.” 4 Now the bramble will be to you like Abimelech, who killed his brothers wrongfully and desires to rule over you. If Abimelech is worthy of those he desires to rule, let him be like the bramble that was made to rebuke the foolish among the people. And fire went out of the bramble and devoured the trees in the field. 5 After that Abimelech ruled over the people for one year and six months, and he died beside a certain tower, where a woman threw down on him half of a millstone.

38Then Jair judged Israel 22 years. He built a sanctuary to Baal and led the people astray, saying, “Every man who does not sacrifice to Baal will die.” And when all the people sacrificed, only seven men would not sacrifice, whose names are these: Dephal, Abiesdrel, Getalibal, Selumi, Assur, Jonadali, Memihel. 2 These men answered Jair, “We remember the precepts that those before us commanded us, and Deborah our mother, saying, ‘Take heed that you do not turn away your heart to the right hand or to the left, but attend to the law of the Lord day and night.’ Now therefore why do you corrupt the people of the Lord and deceive them, saying, ‘Baal is God, let us worship him’? And now, if he is God as you say, let him speak as a God, and then we will sacrifice to him.” 3 Jair said, “Burn them with fire, for they have blasphemed Baal.” And his servants took them to burn them with fire. When they threw them on the fire, Nathaniel the angel who is over fire came forth and quenched the fire and burned up the servants of Jair; but the seven men he made to escape, so that no one of the people saw them, for he had struck the people with blindness. 4 When Jair came to the place, he also was burned. But before he burned him, the angel of the Lord said to him, “Hear the word of the Lord before you die. This is what the Lord says: I raised you up out of the land of Egypt and appointed you ruler over my peoples. But you have risen and corrupted my covenant, and led them astray, and sought to burn my servants in the flame because they reproved you; yet though they are burned with corruptible fire, now they are made alive with living fire and are delivered. But you will die, says the Lord, and in the fire in which you die, there you will have your dwelling.” And afterward he burned him, and came to the pillar of Baal and overthrew it, and burned up Baal with the people who stood by, even 1,000 men.

39After these things the children of Ammon came and began to fight against Israel and took many of their cities. When the people were greatly hard-pressed, they gathered together in Masphath, each man saying to his neighbors, “We see the distress that surrounds us, and the Lord has departed from us and is no longer with us, and our enemies have taken our cities, and there is no leader to go in and out before us. Now therefore let us see whom we may set over us to fight our battle.” 2 Now Jephthah the Galaadite was a mighty man of valor, and because his brothers were jealous of him, they had cast him out of his land, and he went and lived in the land of Tobi. Vagrant men gathered to him and stayed with him. 3 When Israel was overcome in battle, they came into the land of Tobi to Jephthah and said to him, “Come, rule over the people. For who knows whether you were preserved to this day, or delivered out of the hands of your brothers, so that at this time you might rule over your people?” 4 Jephthah said to them, “Does love so return after hatred, or does time overcome all things? For you cast me out of my land and out of my father’s house; and now you come to me when you are in distress.” They said to him, “If the God of our fathers did not remember our sins but delivered us when we had sinned against him and he had given us over to our enemies, and we were oppressed by them, why would you, a mortal man, remember the wrongs that happened to us in the time of our affliction? Therefore let it not be so before you, lord.” 5 Jephthah said, “God indeed is able to be unmindful of our sins, since he has time and place to take his rest in his patience, for he is God; but I am mortal, made of the earth, to which I will return; and where shall I cast away my anger and the wrong with which you have injured me?” The people said to him, “Let the dove instruct you, to which Israel was likened; for though her young are taken from her, she does not depart from her place, but spurns away her wrong and forgets it, as if in the bottom of the deep.” 6 Jephthah arose and went with them and gathered all the people, and said to them, “You know that when our princes were alive, they admonished us to follow our law. And Ammon and his sons turned the people away from the way in which they walked, to serve other gods that would destroy them. Now therefore set your hearts on the law of the Lord your God, and let us entreat him with one accord. And so we will fight against our adversaries, trusting and hoping in the Lord that he will not deliver us up forever. For although our sins overabound, nevertheless his mercy fills all the earth.” 7 The whole people prayed with one accord, both men and women, boys and nursing infants. When they prayed, they said, “Look, O Lord, upon the people you have chosen, and do not spoil the vine your right hand has planted, so that this people may be before you for an inheritance, whom you have possessed from the beginning, and whom you have always preferred, and for whose sake you made the habitable places and brought them into the land you swore to them; do not deliver us up to those who hate you, O Lord.” 8 God repented of his anger and strengthened the spirit of Jephthah. He sent a message to Getal the king of the children of Ammon and said, “Why do you trouble our land and have taken my cities? Why do you afflict us? You have not been commanded by the God of Israel to destroy those who dwell in the land. Now therefore restore my cities to me, and my anger will cease from you. But if not, know that I will come up against you and repay you for the former things and recompense your wickedness on your own head. Do you not remember how you dealt deceitfully with the people of Israel in the wilderness?” And the messengers of Jephthah spoke these words to the king of the children of Ammon. 9 Getal said, “Did Israel take thought when he took the land of the Amorites? Therefore say this, ‘Know that now I will take from you the rest of your cities and will repay you your wickedness and will take vengeance for the Amorites whom you wronged.’” Jephthah sent again to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, “Truly I perceive that God has brought you here so that I may destroy you, unless you rest from the iniquity with which you would trouble Israel. Therefore I will come to you and show myself to you. For they are not gods, as you say, who have given you the inheritance you possess; but because you have been led astray after stones, fire will follow after you for vengeance.” 10 Because the king of the children of Ammon would not hear the voice of Jephthah, Jephthah arose and armed all the people to go out and fight at the borders, saying, “When the children of Ammon are delivered into my hands and I return, whoever first meets me will be a burnt offering to the Lord.” 11 The Lord was very angry and said, “Jephthah has vowed that he will offer to me whatever meets him first. Now therefore, if a dog meets Jephthah first, will a dog be offered to me? Now let the vow of Jephthah be upon his firstborn, upon the fruit of his own body, and his prayer upon his only begotten daughter. But I will indeed deliver my people at this time, not for his sake, but for the prayer that Israel has prayed.”

40Jephthah came and fought against the children of Ammon, and the Lord delivered them into his hand, and he struck sixty of their cities. Jephthah returned in peace. The women came out to meet him with dances. He had an only begotten daughter; she came out first in the dances to meet her father. When Jephthah saw her, he fainted and said, “Rightly is your name called Seila, that you should be offered for a sacrifice. Now who will put my heart in the balance and weigh my soul? I will stand and see whether one will outweigh the other, the rejoicing that has come or the affliction that comes upon me; for I have opened my mouth to my Lord in the song of my vows, and I cannot take it back.” 2 Seila his daughter said to him, “Who is it that can be sorrowful in their death when they see the people delivered? Do you not remember what happened in the days of our fathers, when the father set his son for a burnt offering, and he did not refuse him but consented to him with joy? And the one who was offered was ready, and the one who offered was glad.[19] 3 “Now therefore do not annul anything of what you have vowed, but grant me one prayer. I ask of you one small request before I die: I beg you that before I give up my soul, I may go into the mountains and wander among the hills and walk about among the rocks, I and the virgins who are my companions, and pour out my tears there and tell of the affliction of my youth; and the trees of the field will weep for me and the beasts of the field will lament for me. For I am not sorrowful that I die, nor does it grieve me that I give up my soul; but because my father was overtaken in his vow, if I do not offer myself willingly for a sacrifice, I fear that my death may not be acceptable, and that I will lose my life for nothing. These things I will tell to the mountains, and afterward I will return.” And her father said, “Go.” 4 Seila the daughter of Jephthah went out, she and the virgins who were her companions, and came and told it to the wise men of the people. And no man could answer her words. After that she went into Mount Stelac, and by night the Lord thought upon her and said, “I have now shut up the tongue of the wise among my people before this generation, so that they could not answer the word of the daughter of Jephthah, that my word might be fulfilled and my counsel not destroyed which I had devised; and I have seen that she is wiser than her father, and a maiden of more understanding than all the wise who are here. Now let her life be given her at her request, and her death will be precious in my sight at all times.” 5 When the daughter of Jephthah came to Mount Stelac, she began to lament. This is her lament with which she mourned and wept for herself before she departed, and she said, “Listen, O mountains, to my lament, and look, O hills, upon the tears of my eyes, and be witness, O rocks, to the weeping of my soul. See how I am accused, but my soul will not be taken away in vain. Let my words go forth into the heavens, and let my tears be written before the face of the firmament, that the father may not fight against his daughter whom he has vowed to offer up, that her ruler may hear that his only begotten daughter is promised for a sacrifice. 6 “Yet I have not been satisfied with my marriage bed, nor filled with the garlands of my wedding. I have not been arrayed with brightness, sitting in my maidenhood; I have not used my precious ointment, nor has my soul enjoyed the oil of anointing that was prepared for me. O my mother, in vain you bore your only begotten and bore her upon the earth, for hell has become my marriage chamber. Let all the blending of oil you have prepared for me be poured out, and the white robe my mother wove for me, let the moth eat it; and the crown of flowers my nurse plaited for me before, let it wither; and the coverlet she wove of violet and purple for my virginity, let the worm spoil it; and when the virgins, my companions, tell of me, let them weep for me with groaning for many days. 7 “Bow down your branches, O trees, and lament my youth. Come, you beasts of the forest, and trample upon my virginity; for my years are cut off, and the days of my life have grown old in darkness.” 8 When she had said this, Seila returned to her father, and he did all that he had vowed and offered burnt offerings. Then all the maidens of Israel gathered together and buried the daughter of Jephthah and wept for her. The children of Israel made a great lament and appointed that in that month, on the 14th day, they should come together every year and lament for the daughter of Jephthah four days. And they called the name of her tomb according to her own name, Seila. Jephthah judged the children of Israel ten years, and died, and was buried with his fathers.

41After him a judge arose in Israel, Addo the son of Elech of Praton, and he also judged the children of Israel eight years. In his days the king of Moab sent messengers to him, saying, “You know that Israel has taken my cities; now therefore restore them in recompense.” Addo said, “Are you not yet instructed by what happened to the children of Ammon, unless perhaps the sins of Moab are full?” And Addo sent and took 20,000 of the people and came against Moab, and fought against them and killed 45,000 of them. The rest fled before him. Addo returned in peace and offered burnt offerings and sacrifices to his Lord, and died, and was buried in Ephrata his city. 2 At that time the people chose Elon and made him judge over them, and he judged Israel twenty years. In those days they fought against the Philistines and took twelve cities from them. And Elon died and was buried in his city. 3 But the children of Israel forgot the Lord their God and served the gods of the inhabitants of the land. Therefore they were delivered to the Philistines and served them forty years.

42Now there was a man of the tribe of Dan whose name was Manoah, the son of Edoc, the son of Odo, the son of Eriden, the son of Phadesur, the son of Dema, the son of Susi, the son of Dan. He had a wife whose name was Eluma, the daughter of Remac. She was barren and bore him no child. When Manoah her husband said to her day after day, “The Lord has shut up your womb, so that you do not bear; let me go, therefore, so that I may take another wife, so that I do not die without offspring.” And she said, “The Lord has not shut up me from bearing, but you, so that I should bear no fruit.” He said to her, “Let the law make our case plain.” 2 As they contended day after day, and both of them were deeply grieved because they lacked offspring, on a certain night the woman went up into the upper room and prayed, saying, “O Lord God of all flesh, reveal to me whether it is not given to my husband or to me to beget children, or to whom it is forbidden and to whom allowed to bear fruit; so that the one to whom it is forbidden may mourn for his sins, because he remains without offspring. Or if both of us are deprived, reveal this also to us, that we may bear our sin and keep silent before you.” 3 The Lord listened to her voice and sent her his angel in the morning, and said to her, “You are the barren one who does not bring forth, and you are the womb forbidden to bear fruit. But now the Lord has heard your voice and looked upon your tears and opened your womb. You will conceive and bear a son, and you will call his name Samson, for he will be holy to your Lord. But take heed that he tastes no fruit of the vine, nor eats any unclean thing, for, as he himself has said, he will deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” When the angel of the Lord had spoken these words, he departed from her. 4 She came to her husband in the house and said to him, “I lay my hand upon my mouth and will keep silent before you all my days, because it was in vain that I boasted and did not believe your words. For the angel of the Lord came to me today and showed me, saying, ‘Eluma, you are barren, but you will conceive and bear a son.’” 5 Manoah did not believe his wife. He was ashamed and grieved and went up, he also, into the upper room and prayed, saying, “I am not worthy to hear the signs and wonders that God has worked in us, or to see the face of his messenger.” 6 While he was speaking, the angel of the Lord came again to his wife. Now she was in the field, and Manoah was in his house. The angel said to her, “Run and call your husband, for God has counted him worthy to hear my voice.” 7 The woman ran and called her husband, and he hurried and came to the angel in the field, who said to him, “Go in to your wife and do all these things quickly.” But he said to him, “See to it, lord, that your word is accomplished upon your servant.” And he said, “It will be so.” 8 Manoah said to him, “If I were able, I would persuade you to come into my house and eat bread with me, and know that when you go away I would give you gifts to take with you, that you might offer a sacrifice to the Lord your God.” The angel said to him, “I will not go into your house with you, nor eat your bread, nor will I receive your gifts. For if you offer a sacrifice of what is not yours, I cannot show you favor.” 9 Manoah built an altar on the rock and offered sacrifices and burnt offerings. And when he had cut up the flesh and laid it on the holy place, the angel put forth his hand and touched it with the end of his staff. Fire came forth out of the rock and consumed the burnt offerings and sacrifices. And the angel went up from him in the flame of the fire. 10 When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces and said, “We will surely die, because we have seen the Lord face to face. And it was not enough for me that I saw him, but I also asked his name, not knowing that he was the minister of God.” Now the angel who had come was called Phadahel.

43In the time of those days Eluma conceived and bore a son and called his name Samson. And the Lord was with him. When he had begun to grow up and sought to fight against the Philistines, he took a wife from the Philistines. And the Philistines burned her with fire, for they were brought very low by Samson. 2 After that Samson came against Azotus. They shut him in and surrounded the city and said, “Now our adversary is delivered into our hands. Now therefore let us gather together and help one another.” When Samson had arisen in the night and saw the city closed in, he said, “Now these fleas have shut me up in their city. Now the Lord will be with me, and I will go out through their gates and fight against them.” 3 He went and set his left hand under the bar of the gate and shook it and threw down the gate of the wall. One of the gates he held in his right hand as a shield, and the other he laid upon his shoulders and carried away; and because he had no sword, he pursued the Philistines with it and killed 25,000 men with it. And he lifted up all the fittings of the gate and set them up on a mountain. 4 Now concerning the lion that he killed, and the jawbone of the donkey with which he struck the Philistines, and the bands that he broke off from his arms as if by themselves, and the foxes that he caught, are these things not written in the book of the Judges? 5 Then Samson went down to Gerara, a city of the Philistines, and saw there a prostitute whose name was Delilah, and was led astray after her, and took her as his wife. God said, “Now Samson is led astray by his eyes and has forgotten the mighty works I have done with him, and is mingled with the daughters of the Philistines, and has not considered my servant Joseph, who was in a foreign land and became a crown to his brothers because he would not afflict his offspring. Now therefore his lust will be a stumbling block to Samson, and his mingling will be his destruction, and I will deliver him to his enemies, and they will blind him. Yet in the hour of his death I will remember him, and will avenge him once more upon the Philistines.” 6 After these things his wife pressed him, saying, “Show me your strength, and where your might is. Then I will know that you love me.” When Samson had deceived her three times, and she continued to press him every day, the fourth time he showed her his heart. But she made him drunk, and when he slumbered she called a barber, and he shaved the seven locks of his head, and his might departed from him, for so he himself had revealed to her. She called the Philistines, and they struck Samson and blinded him and put him in prison. 7 On the day of their banqueting, they called for Samson to mock him. And being bound between two pillars, he prayed, saying, “O Lord God of my fathers, hear me yet this once, and strengthen me, that I may die with these Philistines; for this sight of the eyes, which they have taken from me, was freely given to me by you.” And Samson added, saying, “Go forth, O my soul, and do not be grieved. Die, O my body, and do not weep for yourself.” 8 He took hold of the two pillars of the house and shook them. The house fell, and all that was in it, and killed all who were around it; and the number of them was 40,000 men and women. The brothers of Samson came down, and all his father’s house, and took him and buried him in the tomb of his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.

44In those days there was no prince in Israel, but every man did what was pleasing in his own sight. 2 At that time Michas arose, the son of Dedila the mother of Heliu, and he had 100 drachmas of gold and four wedges of molten gold and 4 didrachmas of silver. His mother Dedila said to him, “My son, hear my voice and you will make yourself a name before your death: take that gold and melt it, and make yourself idols, and they will be gods to you, and you will become a priest to them. 3 “And whoever will inquire by them will come to you, and you will answer them. And there will be in your house an altar and a pillar built; and from that gold you have, you will buy yourself incense for burning and sheep for sacrifices. And whoever will offer a sacrifice will give 7 didrachmas for sheep, and for incense, if he will burn it, he will give one didrachma of silver of full weight. And your name will be Priest, and you will be called a worshiper of the gods.” 4 Michas said to her, “You have counseled me well, my mother, how I may live; and now your name will be greater than my name, and in the last days these things will be required of you.” 5 Michas went and did all that his mother had commanded him. He carved out and made for himself three images of boys, and of calves, and a lion, an eagle, a dragon, and a dove. And so all who were led astray came to him; and if any would ask for wives, they inquired of him by the dove; and if for sons, by the image of the boys; but he who would ask for riches took counsel by the likeness of the eagle, and he who asked for strength by the image of the lion; again, if they asked for men and maidens, they inquired by the images of calves; but if for length of days, they inquired by the image of the dragon. And his iniquity took many shapes, and his impiety was full of cunning. 6 Therefore, when the children of Israel departed from the Lord, the Lord said, “I will root out the earth and destroy all the race of men; because when I appointed great things on Mount Sinai, I showed myself to the children of Israel in the storm, and I said that they should not make idols, and they agreed that they would not carve the likeness of gods. I appointed to them that they should not take my name in vain, and they chose this, even not to take my name in vain. I commanded them to keep the sabbath day, and they consented to sanctify themselves. I said to them that they should honor their father and mother, and they promised that they would do so. I appointed to them not to steal, and they consented. I commanded them to do no murder, and they accepted that they should not. I commanded them not to commit adultery, and they did not refuse. I appointed to them to bear no false witness, and not to covet, each man, his neighbor’s wife or his house or anything that is his; and they accepted it. 7 “Now, whereas I told them they should not make idols, they have made the works of all those gods that are born of corruption by the name of a graven image; and also of those through whom all things have been corrupted. For mortal men made them, and the fire served in their melting; the act of men brought them forth, and hands have wrought them, and understanding contrived them. And whereas they have received them, they have taken my name in vain, and have given my name to graven images; and on the sabbath day, which they accepted to keep, they have worked abominations from it. Because I told them they should love their father and mother, they have dishonored me their maker. Because I told them they should not steal, they have dealt thievishly in their understanding with graven images. Whereas I said they should not kill, they do kill when they deceive. When I had commanded them not to commit adultery, they have played the adulterer with their jealousy. And where they chose not to bear false witness, they have received false witness from those whom they cast out, and have lusted after strange women. 8 “Therefore I abhor the race of men; and so that I may root out my creation, those who die will be multiplied above the number of those who are born. For the house of Jacob is defiled with iniquities, and the impieties of Israel are multiplied; and I cannot wholly destroy the tribe of Benjamin, because they were the first to be led away after Michas. And the people of Israel also will not go unpunished, but it will be an offense to them forever, in the memory of all generations. 9 “But Michas I will deliver to the fire. And his mother will waste away in his sight, living upon the earth, and worms will issue forth out of her body. And when they speak to one another, she will say, like a mother rebuking her son, ‘See what a sin you have committed.’ And he will answer, like a son obedient to his mother but dealing craftily, ‘And you have done yet greater iniquity.’ And the likeness of the dove he made will be to put out his eyes, and the likeness of the eagle will be to shed fire from its wings, and the images of the boys he made will be to scrape his sides, and the image of the lion he made will be to him like mighty ones tormenting him. 10 “And thus I will do not only to Michas but to all who sin against me. Now let the race of men know that they will not provoke me by their own inventions. Nor will this chastisement come to those only who make idols, but it will be to every man, that with whatever sin he has sinned, by that he will be judged. Therefore if they speak lies before me, I will command the heaven, and it will withhold their rain. And if any covet the goods of his neighbor, I will command death, and it will deny them the fruit of their body. And if they swear by my name falsely, I will not bear their prayer. And when the soul parts from the body, then they will say, ‘Let us not mourn for the things we have suffered, but because whatever we have devised, that also we will receive.’”

45At that time a certain man of the tribe of Levi came to Gabaon, and when he wanted to stay there, the sun set. When he would have entered there, the inhabitants would not allow him. He said to his servant, “Go on, lead the mule, and we will go to the city of Noba; perhaps they will allow us to enter there.” He came there and sat in the street of the city. And no one said to him, “Come into my house.” 2 But there was a certain Levite there whose name was Bethac. He saw him and said to him, “Are you Beel of my tribe?” He said, “I am.” He said to him, “Do you not know the wickedness of those who dwell in this city? Who advised you to enter here? Hurry and go out from here, and come into my house where I dwell, and stay there today, and the Lord will shut up their heart before us, as he shut up the men of Sodom before the face of Lot.” And he entered the city and stayed there that night. 3 All the inhabitants of the city came together and said to Bethac, “Bring out those who came to you today, and if not, we will burn them and you with fire.” He went out to them and said, “Are they not our brothers? Let us not deal wickedly with them, or our sins will be multiplied against us.” They answered, “It was never so, that strangers should give commands to the inhabitants.” And they entered in with violence and took out him and his concubine and cast them forth; and they let the man go, but they abused his concubine until she died; for she had transgressed against her husband at one time by sinning with the Amalekites, and therefore the Lord God delivered her into the hands of sinners. 4 When it was day, Beel went out and found his concubine dead. He laid her on the mule and hurried and went out and came to Gades. He took her body and divided it and sent it into all parts throughout the twelve tribes, saying, “These things were done to me in the city of Noba, for the inhabitants rose up against me to kill me, and took my concubine, and shut me up, and killed her. If this is pleasing in your sight, keep silent, and let the Lord be judge; but if you will avenge it, the Lord will help you.” 5 All the men, even the twelve tribes, were confounded. They gathered together at Silo and each man said to his neighbor, “Has such iniquity been done in Israel?” 6 The Lord said to the Adversary, “Do you see how this foolish people is disturbed? In the hour when they should have died, when Michas dealt craftily to deceive the people with these, that is, with the dove and the eagle and with the image of men and calves and of a lion and of a dragon, then they were not moved. And therefore, because they were not provoked to anger, let their counsel now be in vain and their heart moved, so that those who allow evil may be consumed as well as the sinners.”

46When it was day, the people of Israel were greatly moved and said, “Let us go up and search out the sin that has been done, that the iniquity may be taken away from us.” And they spoke thus and said, “Let us first inquire of the Lord and learn whether he will deliver our brothers into our hands; and if not, let us hold back.” Phinehas said to them, “Let us offer the Demonstration and the Truth.” The Lord answered them and said, “Go up, for I will deliver them into your hands.” But he deceived them, so that he might accomplish his word. 2 They went up to battle and came to the city of Benjamin and sent messengers, saying, “Send us the men who have done this wickedness, and we will spare you, but we will repay every man his evil doing.” The people of Benjamin hardened their heart and said to the people of Israel, “Why should we deliver our brothers to you? If you do not spare them, we will even fight against you.” And the people of Benjamin came out against the children of Israel and pursued them, and the children of Israel fell before them, and they struck down 45,000 of them. 3 The heart of the people was very deeply troubled, and they came weeping and mourning to Silo and said, “The Lord has delivered us up before the inhabitants of Noba. Now let us inquire of the Lord which among us has sinned.” They inquired of the Lord, and he said to them, “If you will, go up and fight, and they will be delivered into your hands; and then you will be told why you fell before them.” They went up the second day to fight against them. And the children of Benjamin came out and pursued Israel and struck down 46,000 of them. 4 The heart of the people was altogether melted, and they said, “Has God willed to deceive his people? Or has he ordained it because of the evil that is done, that the innocent should fall as well as those who do evil?” When they spoke thus, they fell down before the ark of the covenant of the Lord and tore their clothes and put ashes on their heads, both they and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, who prayed and said, “What is this deceit with which you have deceived us, O Lord? If what the children of Benjamin have done is righteous before your face, why did you not tell us, that we might consider it? But if it was not pleasing in your sight, why did you allow us to fall before them?”

47Phinehas continued and said, “O God of our fathers, hear my voice, and tell your servant this day whether it is well done in your sight, or whether perhaps the people have sinned and you would destroy their evil, that you might also correct among us those who have sinned against you. For I remember in my youth, when Jambri sinned in the days of Moses your servant, I went in and was zealous in my soul, and lifted both of them up on my sword; and the rest would have risen against me to put me to death, but you sent your angel and struck down 24,000 of them and delivered me out of their hands. 2 “And now you have sent the eleven tribes and brought them here, saying, ‘Go and strike them.’ And when they went, they were delivered up. And now they say that the declarations of your truth are lying before you. Now, O Lord God of our fathers, do not hide it from your servant, but tell us why you have done this wrong against us.” 3 When the Lord saw that Phinehas prayed earnestly before him, he said to him, “By myself I have sworn, says the Lord, that had I not sworn, I would not have remembered you for what you have spoken, nor would I have answered you this day. Now say to the people, ‘Stand up and hear the word of the Lord.’” 4 This is what the Lord says: “There was a certain mighty lion in the midst of the forest, and to him all the beasts entrusted the forest, that he should guard it by his power, so that other beasts would not come and lay it waste. While the lion guarded it, there came beasts of the field from another forest and devoured all the young of the beasts and laid waste the fruit of their bodies; and the lion saw it and kept silent. Now the beasts were at peace, because they had entrusted the forest to the lion, and did not perceive that their young were destroyed. 5 “After a time there arose a very small beast of those that had entrusted the forest to the lion, and it devoured the least of the whelps of another very evil beast. And the lion cried out and stirred up all the beasts of the forest, and they fought among themselves, every one against his neighbor. 6 “And when many beasts were destroyed, another whelp from another forest like it saw this and said, ‘Have you not destroyed so many beasts? What injustice is this? At first, when many beasts and their young were unjustly destroyed by other evil beasts, and when all the beasts should have been moved to avenge themselves, seeing the fruit of their bodies despoiled for nothing, then you kept silent and did not speak; but now one whelp of an evil beast has perished, and you have stirred up the whole forest so that all the beasts devour one another without cause, and the forest is diminished. Now therefore you ought to be destroyed first, and so the rest be established.’ And when the young of the beasts heard this, they killed the lion first and put the whelp over them in his place, and so the rest of the beasts were subject together. 7 “Michas arose and made you rich by what he committed, both he and his mother. And there were evil and wicked things, which no one had devised before them; but in his cunning he made graven images, which had not been made until that day, and no one was provoked, but you were all led astray, and saw the fruit of your bodies spoiled, and kept silent, like that evil lion. 8 “And now, when you saw how this man’s concubine, who suffered evil, died, you were all moved and came to me, saying, ‘Will you deliver the children of Benjamin into our hands?’ Therefore I deceived you and said, ‘I will deliver them to you.’ And now I have destroyed those who then kept silent, and so I will take vengeance on all who have done wickedly against me. But you, go up now, for I will deliver them to you.” 9 All the people arose with one accord and went. The children of Benjamin came out against them and thought they would overcome them as before. They did not know that their wickedness had come full upon them. When they had advanced as at first and were pursuing them, the people fled before them to give them room, and then they rose out of their ambushes, and the children of Benjamin were in the midst of them. 10 Then those who were fleeing turned back, and the men of the city of Noba were killed, both men and women, even 85,000 men; and the children of Israel burned the city and took the spoils and destroyed everything with the edge of the sword. And no one was left of the children of Benjamin except only 60 men, who fled and were not found in the battle. And all the people returned to Silo, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest with them. 11 Now these are those who were left of the race of Benjamin, the princes of the tribe, of ten families, whose names are these: of the 1st family, Ezbaile, Zieb, Balac, Reindebac, Belloch; of the 2nd family, Nethac, Zenip, Phenoch, Demech, Geresaraz; of the 3rd family, Jerimuth, Veloth, Amibel, Genuth, Nephuth, Phienna; of the 4th, Gemuph, Eliel, Gemoth, Soleph, Raphaph, Doffo; of the 5th family, Anuel, Code, Fretan, Remmon, Peccan, Nabath; of the 6th family, Rephaz, Sephet, Araphaz, Metach, Adhoc, Balinoc; of the 7th family, Benin, Mephiz, Araph, Ruimel, Belon, Iaal, Abac; and of the 8th, 9th, and 10th families, Enophlasa, Melec, Meturia, Meac; and the rest of the princes of the tribe who were left, sixty in number. 12 At that time the Lord repaid Michas and his mother all the things he had spoken. And Michas was melted with fire, and his mother wasted away, just as the Lord had spoken concerning them.

48At that time Phinehas also lay down to die, and the Lord said to him, “You have passed the 12 years that were ordained for all men. Now arise and go from here and dwell on Mount Danaben, and stay there many years, and I will command my eagle, and he will feed you there, and you will not come down to men again until the time comes and you are tested in that time. Then you will shut the heaven, and at your word it will be opened. After that you will be lifted up into the place where those before you were lifted up, and you will be there until I remember the world. Then I will bring you, and you will taste what death is.”[20] 2 Phinehas went up and did all that the Lord commanded him. Now in the days when he appointed him to be priest, he anointed him in Silo. 3 At that time, when he went up, the children of Israel, when they kept the passover, commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, “Go up and take wives for yourselves by force, because we cannot give you our daughters, for we swore in the time of our anger; and it cannot be that a tribe should perish out of Israel.” And the children of Benjamin went up and seized wives for themselves and built Gabaon for themselves and began to dwell there. 4 And while the children of Israel were at rest in the meantime, they had no prince in those days, and every man did what was right in his own eyes. 5 These are the commandments and the judgments and the testimonies and the revelations that were in the days of the judges of Israel, before a king reigned over them.

49At that time the children of Israel began to inquire of the Lord, and said, “Let us all cast lots, that we may see who there is that can rule over us like Kenaz; for perhaps we will find a man who can deliver us from our afflictions, for it is not good that the people should be without a prince.” 2 They cast lots and found no man, and the people were greatly grieved and said, “The people are not worthy to be heard by the Lord, for he has not answered us. Now therefore let us cast lots by tribes, in case God will be appeased by a multitude, for we know that he will be reconciled to those who are worthy of him.” They cast lots by tribes, and on no tribe did the lot come out. And Israel said, “Let us choose one of ourselves, for we are in distress, since we perceive that God abhors his people and that his soul is displeased with us.” 3 One man answered the people, whose name was Nethez, “It is not he who hates us, but we ourselves have made ourselves hated, so that God forsakes us. Therefore, even though we die, let us not forsake him, but let us flee to him for refuge; for we have walked in our evil ways and have not known the one who made us, and therefore our scheme will be in vain. For I know that God will not cast us off forever, nor will he hate his people to all generations; therefore now be strong, and let us pray yet again and cast lots by cities, for although our sins are great, yet his patience will not fail.” 4 They cast lots by cities, and the lot came on Armathem. The people said, “Is Armathem counted righteous beyond all the cities of Israel, that he has chosen her thus before all the cities?” And every man said to his neighbor, “In that same city which has come out by lot, let us cast lots among the men, and let us see whom the Lord has chosen out of her.” 5 They cast lots among the men, and it took no man except Elkanah, for upon him the lot leapt out; and the people took him and said, “Come and be ruler over us.” Elkanah said to the people, “I cannot be a prince over this people, nor can I judge who can be a prince over you. But if my sins have found me out, that the lot should leap upon me, I will kill myself, so that you are not defiled by me; for it is just that I should die for my own sins only and not bear the weight of the people.” 6 When the people saw that it was not Elkanah’s will to take the leadership over them, they prayed again to the Lord, saying, “O Lord God of Israel, why have you forsaken your people in the enemy’s victory and neglected your inheritance in the time of trouble? Even the one taken by the lot has not carried out your commandment; only this has come about, that the lot leapt out on him, and we believed we had a prince. And now he too contends against the lot. Whom shall we yet require, or to whom shall we flee, and where is the place of our rest? For if the ordinances are true that you made with our fathers, saying, ‘I will enlarge your offspring, and they will know of this,’ then it would be better that you said to us, ‘I will cut off your offspring,’ than that you should have no regard for our root.” 7 God said to them, “If indeed I repaid you according to your evil deeds, I ought not to listen to your people; but what shall I do, because my name comes to be called upon you? Now know that Elkanah, on whom the lot has fallen, cannot rule over you; but rather his son who will be born of him, he will be prince over you and will prophesy; and from now on you will not lack a prince for many years.” 8 The people said, “Lord, Elkanah has ten sons; which of them will be a prince or will prophesy?” And God said, “None of the sons of Peninnah can be a prince over the people, but the one born of the barren woman whom I have given him as a wife, he will be a prophet before me, and I will love him as I loved Isaac, and his name will be before me forever.” The people said, “Now perhaps God has remembered us, to deliver us from the hand of those who hate us.” And in that day they offered peace offerings and feasted in their orders.

50Now Elkanah had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah and the name of the other Peninnah. Because Peninnah had sons and Hannah had none, Peninnah reproached her, saying, “What does it profit you that Elkanah your husband loves you? You are a dry tree. Moreover, I know he will love me, because he delights to see my sons standing about him like the planting of an olive yard.” 2 And so, when she reproached her every day, and Hannah was very heavy at heart, and she had feared God from her youth, it came to pass, when the good day of the passover drew near and her husband went up to sacrifice, that Peninnah reviled Hannah, saying, “A woman is not truly loved even if her husband loves her or her beauty. Let Hannah therefore not boast of her beauty; but let the one who boasts, boast when he sees his offspring before his face; and when it is not so among women, even the fruit of their womb, then love becomes of no account. For what profit was it to Rachel that Jacob loved her, unless the fruit of her womb had been given her? Surely his love would have been for nothing.” When Hannah heard that, her soul melted within her and her eyes ran down with tears. 3 Her husband saw her and said, “Why are you sad, and do not eat, and why is your heart cast down within you? Is not your devotion better than the ten sons of Peninnah?” And Hannah listened to him and arose after she had eaten, and came to Silo to the house of the Lord, where Eli the priest lived, whom Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest had appointed, as it was commanded him. 4 Hannah prayed and said, “Have you not, O Lord, examined the heart of all generations before you formed the world? But what is the womb that is born open, or what womb that is shut up dies, unless you will it? Now let my prayer go up before you this day, so that I do not go away empty; for you know my heart, how I have walked before you from the days of my youth.” 5 Hannah would not pray aloud as all men do, for she took thought at that time, saying, “I am afraid I may not be worthy to be heard, and then Peninnah will envy me even more and reproach me, as she daily says, ‘Where is your God in whom you trust?’ And I know that it is not the woman who has many sons who is rich, nor the one who lacks them who is poor, but whoever abounds in the will of God, she is rich. For those who know what I have prayed for, if they perceive that I am not heard in my prayer, will blaspheme. And I will not only have a witness in my own soul, for my tears also are the handmaids of my prayers.” 6 As she prayed, Eli the priest, seeing that she was afflicted in her mind and carried herself like one drunk, said to her, “Go, put away your wine from you.” And she said, “Is my prayer so heard that I am called drunk? Truly I am drunk with sorrow and have drunk the cup of my weeping.” 7 Eli the priest said to her, “Tell me your reproach.” And she said to him, “I am the wife of Elkanah, and because God has surely shut up my womb, I prayed before him that I might not depart out of this world to him without offspring, nor die without leaving my own image.” And Eli the priest said to her, “Go, for I know what you have prayed for, and your prayer is heard.” 8 But Eli the priest would not tell her that a prophet was foreordained to be born of her, for he had heard when the Lord spoke concerning him. And Hannah came to her house and was consoled of her sorrow, yet she told no one of that for which she had prayed.

51In the time of those days she conceived and bore a son and called his name Samuel, which means Mighty, according as God called his name when he prophesied of him. Hannah sat and nursed the child until he was two years old, and when she had weaned him, she went up with him, bearing gifts in her hands; and the child was very fair, and the Lord was with him. 2 Hannah set the child before the face of Eli and said to him, “This is the desire I desired, and this is the request I sought.” Eli said to her, “Not only did you seek it, but the people also prayed for this. It is not your request alone, but it was promised long ago to the tribes; and by this child your womb is justified, that you should set up prophecy before the people and appoint the milk of your breasts to be a fountain for the twelve tribes.” 3 When Hannah heard that, she prayed and said, “Come at my voice, all you peoples, and give ear to my speech, all you kingdoms; for my mouth is opened that I may speak, and my lips are commanded that I may sing praises to the Lord. Drop, O my breasts, and give forth your testimonies, for you are appointed to give suck. For he will be raised up who is nursed by you, and by his words the people will be enlightened, and he will show the nations their boundaries, and his horn will be greatly exalted. 4 “Therefore I will utter my words openly, for out of me will arise the ordinance of the Lord, and all men will find the truth. Do not hurry to talk proudly, nor to utter lofty words out of your mouth, but delight yourselves in boasting when the light comes forth, out of which wisdom will be born, so that those who have the most possessions may not be called rich, nor those who have borne abundantly be called mothers; for the barren one has been satisfied, and she who was multiplied in sons has become empty. 5 “For the Lord kills with judgment and gives life in mercy. The ungodly are in this world; therefore he gives life to the righteous when he wills, but the ungodly he will shut up in darkness. But for the righteous he preserves their light; and when the ungodly are dead, then they will perish, and when the righteous have fallen asleep, then they will be delivered. And so all judgment will endure until he is revealed who holds it.[21] 6 “Speak, speak, O Hannah, and do not keep silent; sing praises, O daughter of Bathuel, because of the wonders God has worked with you. Who is Hannah, that a prophet should come out of her? Or who is the daughter of Bathuel, that she should bring forth a light for the peoples? Arise, you also, Elkanah, and prepare yourself. Sing praises for the signs of the Lord; for of your son did Asaph prophesy in the wilderness, saying, ‘Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them.’ The word is accomplished and the prophecy has come to pass. And these things endure thus, until they give a horn to his anointed, and power cleaves to the throne of his king. Yet let my son stand here and minister, until there arises a light for this people.” 7 They departed from there and set out with joy, rejoicing and exulting in heart for all the glory God had worked with them. And the people went down with one accord to Silo with timbrels and dances, with lutes and harps, and came to Eli the priest and offered Samuel to him, whom they set before the face of the Lord and anointed, and said, “Let the prophet live among the people, and let him long be a light to this nation.”

52But Samuel was a very young child and knew nothing of all these things. And while he served before the Lord, the two sons of Eli, who did not walk in the ways of their fathers, began to act wickedly toward the people and multiplied their iniquities. They lived near the house of Bethac, and when the people came together to sacrifice, Ophni and Phinehas came and provoked the people to anger, seizing the offerings before the holy things were offered to the Lord. 2 This thing pleased neither the Lord, nor the people, nor their father. Their father spoke to them thus, “What is this report I hear of you? Do you not know that I have received the place that Phinehas committed to me? And if we waste what we have received, what will we say if the one who committed it requires it again and troubles us for what he committed to us? Now therefore make your ways straight and walk in good paths, and your deeds will endure. But if you contradict me and do not refrain from your evil devices, you will destroy yourselves, and the priesthood will be in vain, and what was sanctified will come to nothing. Then they will say, ‘In vain did the rod of Aaron spring up, and the flower born of it has come to nothing.’ 3 “Therefore, while you are still able, my sons, correct what you have done wrong, and the men against whom you have sinned will pray for you. But if you will not, but persist in your iniquities, I will be guiltless; and I will not only grieve, for fear that I hear of the day of your death before I die, but even if this does not happen, I will be clear of blame; and though I be afflicted, you will nevertheless perish.” 4 But his sons did not obey him, for the Lord had given sentence concerning them that they should die, because they had sinned; for when their father said to them, “Repent of your evil way,” they said, “When we grow old, then we will repent.” And for this reason it was not given to them to repent when they were rebuked by their father, because they had always been rebellious and had acted very unjustly in despoiling Israel. And the Lord was angry with Eli.

53But Samuel was ministering before the Lord and did not yet know what the oracles of the Lord were, for he had not yet heard the oracles of the Lord, for he was 8 years old. 2 But when God remembered Israel, he would reveal his words to Samuel, and Samuel slept in the temple of the Lord. When God called to him, he considered first and said, “Samuel is young to be beloved in my sight; nevertheless, because he has not yet heard the voice of the Lord, nor is he confirmed to the voice of the Most High, yet he is like Moses my servant. But I spoke to Moses when he was 8 years old; and Samuel is 8 years old. Moses saw the fire first, and his heart was afraid. And if Samuel sees the fire now, how will he bear it? Therefore now a voice will come to him as of a man, and not as of God. And when he understands, then I will speak to him as God.” 3 At midnight a voice out of heaven called him, and Samuel awoke and perceived, as it were, the voice of Eli, and ran to him and said, “Why have you awakened me, father? For I was afraid, because you never called me in the night.” Eli said, “Woe is me; can it be that an unclean spirit has deceived my son Samuel?” And he said to him, “Go and sleep, for I did not call you. Nevertheless, tell me if you remember how often the one who called you cried out.” And he said, “Twice.” Eli said to him, “Tell me now, of whose voice were you aware, my son?” And he said, “Of yours; therefore I ran to you.” 4 Eli said, “In you I see the sign that men will have from this day forward forever: that if one calls to another twice in the night or at noonday, they will know that it is an evil spirit; but if he calls a third time, they will know that it is an angel.” And Samuel went away and slept. 5 He heard the voice from heaven a second time, and he arose and ran to Eli and said to him, “Why did he call me? For I heard the voice of Elkanah my father.” Then Eli understood that God was beginning to call him. Eli said, “In those two voices with which God has called you, he likened himself to your father and to your master; but now the third time he will speak as God.” 6 He said to him, “With your right ear attend, and with your left refrain. For Phinehas the priest commanded us, saying, ‘The right ear hears the Lord by night, and the left ear an angel.’ Therefore if you hear with your right ear, say this, ‘Speak what you will, for I hear you, for you have formed me’; but if you hear with the left ear, come and tell me.” And Samuel went away and slept as Eli had commanded him. 7 The Lord continued and spoke a third time, and the right ear of Samuel was filled with the voice. When he perceived that the speech of his father had come down to him, Samuel turned on his other side and said, “If I am able, speak, for you have formed me.” 8 God said to him, “Truly I enlightened the house of Israel in Egypt and chose for myself at that time Moses my servant for a prophet, and by him I worked wonders for my people and avenged them on my enemies as I would, and I took my people into the wilderness and enlightened them as they looked on. 9 “And when one tribe rose up against another tribe, saying, ‘Why are the priests alone holy?’ I would not destroy them, but I said to them, ‘Let each one give his rod, and the one whose rod blossoms, him I have chosen for the priesthood.’ And when they had all given their rods as I commanded, then I commanded the earth of the tabernacle that the rod of Aaron should blossom, that his line might be made manifest for many days. And now those who blossomed have abhorred my holy things. 10 “Therefore, the days will come when I will cut off the flower that came forth at that time, and I will go forth against them because they transgress the word I spoke to my servant Moses, saying, ‘If you come upon a nest, you shall not take the mother with the young.’ Therefore it will happen to them that the mothers will die with the children, and the fathers perish with the sons.” 11 When Samuel heard these words, his heart melted, and he said, “Has it so come against me in my youth, that I should prophesy the destruction of the one who fostered me? And how then was I granted at the request of my mother? And who is it that brought me up? How has he charged me to bear evil tidings?” 12 Samuel arose in the morning and would not tell it to Eli. Eli said to him, “Hear now, my son. Before you were born, God promised Israel that he would send you to them to prophesy. And when your mother came here and prayed, for she did not know what had been done, I said to her, ‘Go forth, for the one who will be born of you will be a son to me.’ So I spoke to your mother, and so the Lord has directed your way. And even if you chasten your nursing-father, as the Lord lives, do not hide from me the things you have heard.” 13 Then Samuel was afraid and told him all the words he had heard. And Eli said, “Can the thing formed answer the one who formed it? So also I cannot answer when he takes away what he has given, even the faithful giver, the holy one who has prophesied; for I am subject to his power.”

54In those days the Philistines assembled their camp to fight against Israel, and the children of Israel went out to fight with them. When the people of Israel had been put to flight in the first battle, they said, “Let us bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord; perhaps it will fight with us, because in it are the testimonies of the Lord that he ordained for our fathers at Horeb.” 2 As the ark went up with them, when it had come into the camp, the Lord thundered and said, “This time will be like the time in the wilderness, when they took the ark without my commandment, and destruction came upon them. So also at this time the people will fall, and the ark will be taken, that I may punish the adversaries of my people because of the ark, and rebuke my people because they have sinned.” 3 When the ark had come into the battle, the Philistines went out to meet the children of Israel and struck them. And there was a certain Goliath, a Philistine, who came even to the ark; and Ophni and Phinehas the sons of Eli, and Saul the son of Kish, held the ark. And Goliath took it with his left hand and killed Ophni and Phinehas. 4 But Saul, because he was light on his feet, fled from before him; and he tore his clothes and put ashes on his head and came to Eli the priest. Eli said to him, “Tell me what has happened in the camp.” Saul said to him, “Why do you ask me these things? For the people are overcome, and God has forsaken Israel. Yes, and the priests also are slain with the sword, and the ark is delivered to the Philistines.” 5 When Eli heard of the taking of the ark, he said, “Samuel prophesied of me and my sons that we should die together, but he did not name the ark to me. And now the testimonies are delivered up to the enemy, and what more can I say? Israel has perished from the truth, for the judgments are taken away from him.” And because Eli despaired completely, he fell off his seat. And they died in one day, even Eli and Ophni and Phinehas his sons. 6 And the wife of Eli’s son sat in labor; and when she heard these things, all her bowels melted within her. The midwife said to her, “Be of good cheer, and do not let your soul faint, for a son is born to you.” She said to her, “Now one soul is born, and we four die, that is, my father and his two sons and his daughter-in-law.” And she called his name “Where is the glory?”, saying, “The glory of God has perished in Israel, because the ark of the Lord is taken captive.” And when she had said this, she gave up the ghost.

55But Samuel knew nothing of all these things, because three days before the battle God had sent him away, saying to him, “Go and look upon the place of Arimatha; there will be your dwelling.” When Samuel heard what had happened to Israel, he came and prayed to the Lord, saying, “Now, in vain is understanding denied to me, that I should see the destruction of my people. And now I fear that my days will grow old in evil and my years will be ended in sorrow; for since the ark of the Lord is not with me, why should I live any longer?” 2 The Lord said to him, “Do not be grieved, Samuel, that the ark is taken away. I will bring it again, and those who have taken it I will overthrow, and I will avenge my people on their enemies.” Samuel said, “Even if you avenge them in time, according to your patience, yet what shall we do who die now?” God said to him, “Before you die, you will see the end I will bring upon my enemies, by which the Philistines will perish and be slain by scorpions and by all kinds of harmful creeping things.” 3 When the Philistines had set the ark of the Lord that was taken in the temple of Dagon their god, and had come to inquire of Dagon concerning their going out, they found him fallen on his face, with his hands and feet laid before the ark. They went out on the first morning, having crucified his priests. And on the second day they came and found it as on the day before, and the destruction was greatly multiplied among them. 4 Therefore the Philistines gathered together in Accaron and each man said to his neighbor, “Now we see that the destruction is enlarged among us, and the fruit of our bodies perishes, for the creeping things that are sent upon us destroy the pregnant women and the nursing infants and those also who give suck.” And they said, “Let us see why the hand of the Lord is strong against us. Is it for the ark’s sake? For every day our god is found fallen on his face before the ark, and we have killed our priests for nothing, time and again.” 5 The wise men of the Philistines said, “By this we may know whether the Lord has sent destruction upon us for the sake of his ark, or whether a chance affliction has come upon us for a season. 6 “And now, since all the pregnant women and nursing mothers die, and those who give suck are made childless, and those who are nursed perish, let us also take cows that give suck and yoke them to a new cart, and set the ark on it, and shut up the calves of the cows. And it will be: if the cows indeed go forward and do not turn back to their young, we will know that we have suffered these things for the ark’s sake; but if they refuse to go, yearning after their young, we will know that the time of our fall has come upon us.” 7 Certain of the wise men and diviners answered, “Do not try only this, but let us set the cows at the head of the three ways around Accaron. For the middle way leads to Accaron, and the way on the right hand to Judaea, and the way on the left hand to Samaria. Direct the cows that carry the ark into the middle way. And if they set out by the right-hand way straight to Judaea, we will know that truly the God of the Jews has laid us waste; but if they go by those other ways, we will know that a mighty affliction has come upon us, for now we have denied our gods.” 8 The Philistines took milk cows and yoked them to a new cart and set the ark on it, and set them at the head of the three ways, and shut up their young at home. And the cows, although they lowed and yearned for their young, went forward nevertheless by the right-hand way that leads to Judaea. And then they knew that for the ark’s sake they were laid waste. 9 All the Philistines assembled and brought the ark again to Silo with timbrels and pipes and dances. And because of the harmful creeping things that laid them waste, they made seats of gold and consecrated the ark. 10 In that plague of the Philistines, the number of those who died who were pregnant was 75,000; of nursing children, 65,000; of those who gave suck, 55,000; and of men, 25,000. And the land had rest seven years.

56At that time the children of Israel demanded a king. They gathered together to Samuel and said, “You have grown old, and your sons do not walk in the ways of the Lord; now therefore appoint a king over us to judge between us, for the word is fulfilled that Moses spoke to our fathers in the wilderness, saying, ‘You shall surely appoint over you a prince of your brothers.’” 2 When Samuel heard mention of the kingdom, he was deeply grieved in his heart and said, “Now I see that there is not yet for us a time of a perpetual kingdom, nor of building the house of the Lord our God, since these desire a king before the time. And now, even if the Lord so wills, it seems to me that a king cannot be established.” 3 The Lord said to him in the night, “Do not be grieved, for I will send them a king who will lay them waste, and he himself will be laid waste afterward. The one who comes to you tomorrow at the sixth hour, he it is who will reign over them.” 4 The next day Saul, the son of Kish, was coming from Mount Effrem, seeking his father’s donkeys; and when he had come to Armathem, he went in to inquire of Samuel about the donkeys. Now Samuel was walking near Baam, and Saul said to him, “Where is the one who sees?” For at that time a prophet was called a Seer. Samuel said to him, “I am the one who sees.” And he said, “Can you tell me about my father’s donkeys? For they are lost.” 5 Samuel said to him, “Refresh yourself with me this day, and in the morning I will tell you what you came to inquire about.” And Samuel said to the Lord, “Direct your people, O Lord, and reveal to me what you have determined concerning them.” Saul refreshed himself with Samuel that day and rose in the morning. Samuel said to him, “Know that the Lord has chosen you to be prince over his people at this time, and has raised up your ways, and your time will be directed.” 6 Saul said to Samuel, “Who am I, and what is my father’s house, that my lord should speak thus to me? For I do not understand what you say, because I am a youth.” Samuel said to Saul, “Who will grant that your word should come to fulfillment of itself, that you may live many days? But consider this: that your words will be like the words of a prophet whose name will be Hieremias.” 7 As Saul went away that day, the people came to Samuel, saying, “Give us a king, as you promised us.” And he said to them, “The king will come to you after three days.” And then Saul came. And all the signs happened to him that Samuel had told him. Are these things not written in the book of the Kings?

57Samuel sent and gathered all the people, and said to them, “You and your king are here, and I am between you, as the Lord commanded me. 2 “And therefore I say to you, before the face of your king, as my lord Moses the servant of God said to your fathers in the wilderness, when the assembly of Korah rose against him, ‘You know that I have not taken anything from you, nor have I wronged any of you’; and because certain ones lied at that time and said, ‘You did take,’ the earth swallowed them up. 3 “Now therefore, you whom the Lord has not punished, answer before the Lord and before his anointed, if it is for this reason that you have demanded a king, because I have treated you badly; and the Lord will be your witness. But if now the word of the Lord is fulfilled, I am free, and my father’s house.” 4 The people answered, “We are your servants, and our king with us; because we are unworthy to be judged by a prophet, therefore we said, ‘Appoint a king over us to judge us.’” And all the people and the king wept with a great lamentation and said, “Let Samuel the prophet live.” And when the king was appointed, they offered sacrifices to the Lord. 5 After that Saul fought with the Philistines one year, and the battle prospered greatly.

58At that time the Lord said to Samuel, “Go and say to Saul, ‘You are sent to destroy Amalek, that the words may be fulfilled that Moses my servant spoke, saying, “I will destroy the name of Amalek out of the land of which I spoke in my anger.” And do not forget to destroy every soul of them, as it is commanded you.’” 2 Saul departed and fought against Amalek, and spared Agag the king of Amalek alive, because Agag said to him, “I will show you hidden treasures.” Therefore he spared him and kept him alive and brought him to Armathem. 3 God said to Samuel, “Have you seen how the king is corrupted with money in a moment, and has spared Agag king of Amalek and his wife alive? Now therefore allow Agag and his wife to come together this night, and tomorrow you will kill him; but his wife they will keep until she bears a male child, and then she also will die, and the one born of her will be an offense to Saul. But you, arise in the morning and kill Agag, for the sin of Saul is written before my face always.” When Samuel had risen in the morning, Saul came out to meet him and said to him, “The Lord has delivered our enemies into our hands, as he said.” Samuel said to Saul, “Whom has Israel wronged? For before the time had come for a king to rule over him, he demanded you for his king; and you, when you were sent to do the will of the Lord, transgressed it. Therefore the one spared alive by you will now die, and those hidden treasures of which he spoke he will not show you, and the one born of him will be an offense to you.” And Samuel came to Agag with a sword and killed him, and returned to his house.

59The Lord said to him, “Go, anoint the one I will tell you, for the time is fulfilled when his kingdom will come.” Samuel said, “Will you now blot out the kingdom of Saul?” And he said, “I will blot it out.” 2 Samuel went out to Bethel and consecrated the elders, and Jesse, and his sons. Eliab the firstborn of Jesse came. Samuel said, “Here is the holy one, the anointed of the Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Where is your vision that your heart has seen? Are you not the one who said to Saul, ‘I am the one who sees’? And how do you not know whom you must anoint? Now let this rebuke be enough for you, and seek out the shepherd, the least of them all, and anoint him.” 3 Samuel said to Jesse, “Listen, Jesse, send and bring here your son from the flock, for him God has chosen.” Jesse sent and brought David, and Samuel anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Lord was with him from that day forward. 4 Then David began to sing this psalm, saying, “At the ends of the earth I will begin to glorify him, and to everlasting days I will sing praises. When Abel at the first fed the sheep, his sacrifice was more acceptable than his brother’s; and his brother envied him and killed him. But it is not so with me, for God has kept me, and has delivered me to his angels and his watchers to keep me; for my brothers envied me, and my father and my mother made me of no account, and when the prophet came, they did not call for me, and when the Lord’s anointed was proclaimed, they forgot me. But God came near to me with his right hand and with his mercy; therefore I will not cease to sing praises all the days of my life.” 5 And as David was still speaking, a fierce lion came out of the wood and a she-bear out of the mountain and took the bulls of David. David said, “This will be a sign to me for a mighty beginning of my victory in battle. I will go out after them and rescue what is carried off and kill them.” David went out after them and took stones out of the wood and killed them. God said to him, “By stones I have delivered these beasts to you in your sight. And this will be a sign to you that from now on you will kill with stones the adversary of my people.”

60At that time the spirit of the Lord was taken away from Saul, and an evil spirit oppressed him. Saul sent and fetched David, and he played a psalm on his harp in the night. And this is the psalm he sang to Saul, that the evil spirit might depart from him. 2 “There were darkness and silence before the world was, and the silence spoke, and the darkness became visible. Then your name was created, at the drawing together of what was stretched out, of which the upper was called heaven and the lower was called earth. And it was commanded to the upper that it should rain according to its season, and to the lower that it should bring forth food for the man who would be made. And after that, the tribe of your spirits was made. 3 “Now therefore, do not be harmful, since you are a second creation; but if not, then remember Hell, where you walked. Or is it not enough for you to hear that by what resounds before you I sing to many? Or do you forget that out of a rebounding echo in the abyss your creation was born? But that new womb will rebuke you, from which I am born, of whom, after a time, will be born from my loins the one who will subdue you.” And when David sang praises, the spirit spared Saul.

61After these things the Philistines came to fight against Israel. David had returned to the wilderness to feed his sheep, and the Midianites came and would have taken his sheep, and he came down to them and fought against them and killed 15,000 of them. This is the first battle that David fought, while he was in the wilderness. 2 A man came out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath, and he looked upon Saul and upon Israel and said, “Are you not Saul, who fled before me when I took the ark from you and killed your priests? And now that you reign, will you come down to me like a man and a king and fight against us? If not, I will come to you and cause you to be taken captive, and your people to serve our gods.” When Saul and Israel heard that, they were greatly afraid. The Philistine said, “According to the number of days in which Israel feasted when they received the law in the wilderness, even 4 days, I will reproach them, and after that I will fight with them.” 3 When the 4 days were fulfilled, and David had come to see the battle of his brothers, he heard the words the Philistine spoke and said, “Is this perhaps the time of which God said to me, ‘I will deliver the adversary of my people into your hand by stones’?” 4 Saul heard these words and sent and took him and said, “What was the speech you spoke to the people?” David said, “Do not be afraid, O king, for I will go and fight against the Philistine, and God will take away the hatred and reproach from Israel.” 5 David went forth and took 7 stones and wrote on them the names of his fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses and Aaron, and his own name, and the name of the Most Mighty. And God sent Cervihel, the angel who is over strength. 6 David went forth to Goliath and said to him, “Hear a word before you die. Were not the two women of whom you and I were born sisters? Your mother was Orpha and my mother was Ruth. Orpha chose for herself the gods of the Philistines and went after them, but Ruth chose for herself the ways of the Most Mighty and walked in them. And now you and your brothers are born of Orpha; and as you have risen this day and come to lay Israel waste, I also, who am born of your kindred, have come to avenge my people. For your three brothers also will fall into my hands after your death. And then you will say to your mother, ‘The one born of your sister has not spared us.’” 7 David put a stone in his sling and struck the Philistine in his forehead, and ran upon him and drew his sword out of the sheath and took his head from him. Goliath said to him while his life was still in him, “Hurry and kill me and rejoice.” 8 David said to him, “Before you die, open your eyes and look at your slayer who has killed you.” The Philistine looked and saw the angel and said, “You have not killed me by yourself, but the one who was with you, whose form is not like the form of a man.” And then David took his head from him.[22] 9 The angel of the Lord lifted up the face of David, and no one recognized him. When Saul saw David, he asked him who he was, and there was no one who knew who he was.[23]

62After these things Saul envied David and sought to kill him. But David and Jonathan, Saul’s son, made a covenant together. When David saw that Saul sought to kill him, he fled to Armathem, and Saul went out after him. 2 The spirit came upon Saul, and he prophesied, saying, “Why are you deceived, O Saul, or whom do you persecute in vain? The time of your kingdom is fulfilled. Go to your place, for you will die, and David will reign. Will you not and your son die together? And then the kingdom of David will appear.” And the spirit departed from Saul, and he did not know what he had prophesied. 3 But David came to Jonathan and said to him, “Come, let us make a covenant before we are parted from one another. For Saul your father seeks to kill me without cause. And since he has perceived that you love me, he does not tell you what he devises concerning me. 4 “For this reason he hates me, because you love me, and because I might reign in his place. And whereas I have done him good, he repays me with evil. And whereas I killed Goliath by the word of the Most Mighty, see what an end he purposes for me. For he has determined concerning my father’s house, to destroy it. And if only the judgment of truth might be put in the balance, that the multitude of the prudent might hear the sentence. 5 “And now I fear that he will kill me and lose his own life for my sake. For he will never shed innocent blood without punishment. Why should my soul suffer persecution? For I was the least among my brothers, feeding the sheep, and why am I in peril of death? For I am righteous and have no iniquity. And why does your father hate me? Yet the righteousness of my father will help me, that I do not fall into your father’s hands. And since I am young and tender in age, it is for nothing that Saul envies me. 6 “If I had wronged him, I would beg him to forgive me the sin. For if God forgives iniquity, how much more your father, who is flesh and blood? I have walked in his house with a perfect heart; indeed, I grew up before his face like a swift eagle, I put my hands to the harp and blessed him in songs, and he has devised to kill me; and like a sparrow that flees before the face of the hawk, so have I fled before his face. 7 “To whom have I spoken this, or to whom have I told the things I have suffered, except to you and Michal your sister? For as for the two of us, let us go together in truth. 8 “And it would be better, my brother, that I should be killed in battle than that I should fall into the hands of your father; for in the battle my eyes were looking on every side that I might defend him from his enemies. O my brother Jonathan, hear my words, and if there is iniquity in me, reprove me.” 9 Jonathan answered and said, “Come to me, my brother David, and I will tell you your righteousness. My soul aches deeply at your sadness, because now we are parted from one another. And this our sins have compelled, that we should be parted from one another. But let us remember one another day and night while we live. And even if death parts us, yet I know that our souls will know one another. For yours is the kingdom in this world, and from you will be the beginning of the kingdom, and it comes in its time. 10 “And now, like a child that is weaned from its mother, so will be our separation. Let the heaven be witness and let the earth be witness of the things we have spoken together. And let us weep each with the other and lay up our tears in one vessel and commit the vessel to the earth, and it will be a testimony to us.” And they bewailed one another sorely and kissed one another. But Jonathan feared and said to David, “Let us remember, O my brother, the covenant made between us, and the oath that is set in our heart. And if I die before you and you indeed reign, as the Lord has spoken, do not be mindful of the anger of my father, but of the covenant made between me and you. Do not think upon the hatred with which my father hates you in vain, but upon my love with which I have loved you. Do not think upon that in which my father was unthankful to you, but remember the table at which we have eaten together. Do not keep in mind the envy with which my father enviously envied you, but the faith that I and you keep. Do not care about the lie with which Saul has lied, but about the oaths we have sworn to one another.” And they kissed one another. After that David departed into the wilderness, and Jonathan went into the city.

63At that time the priests who lived in Noba were polluting the holy things of the Lord and making the firstfruits a reproach to the people. God was angry and said, “I will wipe out the priests who live in Noba, because they walk in the ways of the sons of Eli.” 2 At that time Doeg the Syrian, who was over Saul’s mules, came to Saul and said to him, “Do you not know that Abimelech the priest takes counsel with David and has given him a sword and sent him away in peace?” And Saul sent and called Abimelech and said to him, “You will surely die, because you have taken counsel with my enemy.” And Saul killed Abimelech and all his father’s house, and not even one of his tribe was delivered, except only Abiathar his son. He came to David and told him all that had happened to him. 3 God said, “In the year when Saul began to reign, when Jonathan had sinned and Saul would have put him to death, this people rose up and would not allow it; and now, when the priests were killed, even 38 men, they kept silent and said nothing. Therefore the days will come quickly when I will deliver them into the hands of their enemies, and they will fall down wounded, they and their king.” 4 And to Doeg the Syrian the Lord said this, “The days will come quickly when the worm will come up upon his tongue and cause him to waste away, and his dwelling will be with Jair forever, in the fire that is not quenched.” 5 Now all that Saul did, and the rest of his words, and how he pursued David, are they not written in the book of the kings of Israel? 6 After these things Samuel died, and all Israel gathered together and mourned him and buried him.

64Then Saul took thought, saying, “I will surely take away the sorcerers out of the land of Israel. So men will remember me after my departure.” And Saul scattered all the sorcerers out of the land. God said, “Saul has taken away the sorcerers out of the land, not because of the fear of me, but that he might make himself a name. Those whom he has scattered, to them let him resort and get divination from them, because he has no prophets.” 2 At that time the Philistines said, each man to his neighbor, “Samuel the prophet is dead, and there is no one who prays for Israel. David also, who fought for them, has become Saul’s adversary and is not with them. Now therefore let us arise and fight mightily against them and avenge the blood of our fathers.” And the Philistines assembled themselves and came up to battle. 3 When Saul saw that Samuel was dead and David was not with him, his hands were loosened. He inquired of the Lord, and he did not listen to him. He sought prophets, and none appeared to him. Saul said to the people, “Let us seek out a diviner and inquire of him about what I have in mind.” The people answered him, “There is a woman named Sedecla, the daughter of Debin the Midianite, who deceived the people of Israel with sorceries; and she lives in Endor.” 4 Saul put on shabby clothing and went to her, he and two men with him, by night, and said to her, “Raise up Samuel for me.” She said, “I am afraid of King Saul.” Saul said to her, “You will not be harmed by Saul in this matter.” And Saul said within himself, “When I was king in Israel, even though the Gentiles did not see me, yet they knew that I was Saul.” And Saul asked the woman, “Have you ever seen Saul?” And she said, “Often.” Saul went out and wept and said, “Now I know that my beauty is changed, and that the glory of my kingdom has passed from me.” 5 When the woman saw Samuel coming up, and saw Saul with him, she cried out and said, “You are Saul; why have you deceived me?” He said to her, “Do not be afraid, but tell me what you saw.” She said, “These 4 years I have raised up the dead for the Philistines, but this appearance has not been seen, nor will it be seen again.” 6 Saul said to her, “What is his form?” She said, “You inquire of me concerning the gods. For his form is not the form of a man. He is arrayed in a white robe and has a mantle upon it, and two angels are leading him.” And Saul remembered the mantle that Samuel had torn while he lived, and he struck his hands together and cast himself upon the earth. 7 Samuel said to him, “Why have you disquieted me to bring me up? I thought the time had come for me to receive the reward of my deeds. Therefore do not boast, O king, nor you, O woman. For it is not you who have brought me up, but the command that God spoke to me while I yet lived, that I should come and tell you that you have sinned, yet a second time, in neglecting God. For this reason my bones are disturbed after I had rendered up my soul, that I should speak to you, and that, being dead, I should be heard as one living. 8 “Now therefore tomorrow you and your sons will be with me, when the people are delivered into the hands of the Philistines. And because your bowels were moved with jealousy, therefore what is yours will be taken from you.” Saul heard the words of Samuel, and his soul melted, and he said, “I am about to go and die with my sons, if perhaps my destruction may be an atonement for my iniquities.” And Saul arose and departed from there.

65The Philistines fought against Israel. Saul went out to battle. And Israel fled before the Philistines; and when Saul saw that the battle grew exceedingly hard, he said in his heart, “Why do you strengthen yourself to live, seeing that Samuel has proclaimed death to you and to your sons?” 2 Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Take your sword and kill me before the Philistines come and abuse me.” But his armor-bearer would not lay hands on him. 3 He himself bowed upon his sword, and he could not die. He looked behind him and saw a man running, and called to him and said, “Take my sword and kill me, for my life is still in me.” 4 He came to kill him. Saul said to him, “Before you kill me, tell me, who are you?” He said to him, “I am Edab, the son of Agag king of the Amalekites.” Saul said, “Now the words of Samuel have come upon me, just as he said, ‘The one born of Agag will be an offense to you.’ 5 “Now go and say to David, ‘I have killed your enemy.’ And you shall say to him, ‘This is what Saul says: Do not be mindful of my hatred, nor of my unrighteousness.’”

Glossary